REVIEW: The Great Escapists, Series 1 Episode One 'Shipwrecked'

 REVIEW: The Great Escapists, Series 1 Episode One 'Shipwrecked'

Going into this show, I was anticipating that this would be a factual documentary series presented by Richard Hammond and Tony Belleci on how to survive if you're stranded on a desert island. So you can imagine my surprise when I watched this, and discovered it was more of a spoof on classic survival stories such as Lost and Cast Away.

I honestly really don't know what to make of this series. It's a bit of an oddball in the pantheon of series featuring either Clarkson, Hammond or May. I thought Oh Cook would be the most unusual one to come from the trio, but The Great Escapists is even more of a departure than that.

The spoof stuff in this episode really doesn't work. Richard Hammond and Tony Belleci, as entertaining as they are, are not comedy actors, and so their attempts to play exaggerated comedic caricatures of themselves just end up falling flat. It did get a few laughs from me with the constant digs at Jeremy Clarkson, and the continuation of the running joke that has been prevalent throughout the Top Gear/Grand Tour stuff of Richard Hammond being an egotist who is always bringing up his status as 'TV's Richard Hammond'. But the other jokes, such as the dog food gag and Richard constantly interrupting Tony before he's about to test the intruder alarm just made me cringe.

The more Top Gear/Grand Tour aspects are brilliant though. The sequences with the cars that Richard and Tory build, and the ensuing race that transpires between their two creations was excellent stuff. Richard chasing after his car after it sets off without him got the biggest laugh from me out of the entire episode. And I genuinely really liked seeing them build the treehouse. I thought that was quite a quirky little structure.

I guess what I'm saying is that the scenes where they're not trying to be funny are the most engaging parts of the show, at least in this first episode. I really hope in future episodes they stop trying to force the comedy, as the real funny moments come from when they're not trying to make us laugh.

What are your thoughts on The Great Escapists' first episode? Let me know in the comments.