An African Adventurer

Introduction

Keith Floyd is a televisual legend. He drank his way across the TV cooking landscape in the 1980s, travelling all around the world (accompanied by his signature Stranglers theme tune) bringing us local recipes, local colour, local characters and his own particular take on the cookery/travelogue genre. Even if you don't watch any TV cookery shows or read cookery books you'll probably be aware of Floyd and his supreme drinking skils. He was an easy target for various 1980s comedians due to his passion for food and more usually drink.

This series takes Floyd to Africa. Floyd arrives in Cape Town by yacht and cooks on board, opening up the series with a classic sketch on the high seas, with glasses smashing around, the director heaving over the side, and everything rocking about a lot. Other sketches involve meeting and cooking with locals, preparing cocktails whilst clearly drunk, and cooking eggs and bacon in the firebox on a steam train. He also visits Madagascar, cooks for the Queen of Lesotho, goes to Zimbabwe (which was still a viable destination at the time of filming), and cooks amongst a field full of Ostriches. If you've ever seen Alvin Hall being attacked by them on The Money Programme, you know what's coming next...

Video

A standard full frame transfer as you would expect of a 1996 TV show.

Audio

A standard DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, again as you would expect.

Extras

None.

Conclusion

If you like Floyd, then you'll like this DVD. Despite his sometime shambling performance and obviously being a little worse for wear at various times, Floyd is an erudite and witty commentator and always captures the spirit of places he visits.

If Floyd has visited somewhere that you're going you should watch his shows and find out more about that place and its foods and drinks. H e may even inspire you to visit somewhere new.

His recipes are always interesting and excellent, but even if you're not into cooking, there's plenty to learn from watching this TV legend.