Long Way Down | |
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Opening title shot for Long Way Down
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Genre | Documentary |
Created by |
Ewan McGregor Charley Boorman David Alexanian Russ Malkin Saqlain shah |
Starring | Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of episodes | 6 (10 ep. extended broadcast) |
Production | |
Producer(s) | David Alexanian Russ Malkin |
Running time | 60 Mins |
Release | |
Original network | BBC Two |
Original release | 28 October – 2 December 2007 |
Chronology | |
Related shows |
Long Way Round Race to Dakar By Any Means |
External links | |
Website |
Author | Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman |
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Language | English |
Genre | Travelogue |
Publisher | Atria Books |
Publication date
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15 July 2008 |
Media type | Hardback |
Pages | 352 |
Awards | Galaxy British Book Award 2008- Best Popular Non Fiction |
ISBN | |
Preceded by | Long Way Round |
Long Way Down is a television series, book and DVD documenting a motorcycle journey undertaken in 2007 by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, from John o' Groats in Scotland through eighteen countries in Europe and Africa to Cape Town in South Africa. It is a follow-up to the Long Way Round of 2004, when the pair rode east from London to New York via Eurasia and North America.
The journey started on 12 May and finished on 4 August 2007. They were accompanied by the same key team members from Long Way Round, including cameraman and director of photography Claudio Von Planta and cameraman Jimmy Simak (who also oversaw music supervision and soundtrack production), and producers Russ Malkin and David Alexanian. They also decided to travel with medic Dai Jones, security officer Jim Foster, and various "fixers"—local guides and interpreters. They rode the BMW R1200GS Adventure, the successor to the R1150GS Adventure bikes in Long Way Round.
As with their previous trip, and Boorman's Race to Dakar, Russ Malkin's company Big Earth produced the series. The television series began broadcast on BBC Two on 28 October 2007, with clips also shown online.
The team travelled from their base in Shepherds Bush, London to John o' Groats at the northern tip of Scotland to begin their journey. The start was nearly delayed after Boorman, frustrated by an official at Gatwick Airport, made an off-the-cuff comment regarding bombs and was detained for questioning. After being released without charge, he took a later flight to Inverness and the journey began as scheduled. The team took four days to ride from John o' Groats back to London, via the McGregor family home in Crieff and the Silverstone racetrack, where they camped in the middle of the circuit. They took the Channel Tunnel to France, and rode south to Italy. The European leg ended in Sicily, where they caught a ferry to Tunisia.