Channel 5 has announced two travel series’ to be presented by Nick Knowles.
Nick Knowles’ Big Adventure: The American Southwest – an adventure series across the US’s Grand Canyon and Death Valley and Nick Knowles’ Big Railway Adventures –a six-part travel series following six iconic railways journeys, have both been commissioned for the broadcaster.
The American Southwest is a four-part series to air in hour-long slots, where Knowles turns adventurer for the very first time and is plunged into the extremes of the last remaining untamed frontier of the USA… The Great Southwest.
Nick will be pushed to his limits as he descends into one of the deepest canyons on the planet: the mighty Grand Canyon. Here he’ll meet the ancient Native American tribe who call it home and venture deep into the heart of the canyon, to where they still live today. He will kayak in the mighty Colorado River, hike through the spectacular Vermilion Cliffs and see a conservation breeding programme at work which is successfully bringing back endangered condors to the Canyon.
The series will also follow Nick 400 miles to the west to the fearsome cauldron of ‘Death Valley’, where he will spend time with locals and learn how to survive in the hottest place on earth with temperatures regularly hitting 50 degrees centigrade!
Nick Knowles:
“I’m so excited to be out travelling again and working with an exceptionally talented team of film makers. It’s going to be cinematic, epic and full of big skies and joyful, fascinating personal encounters. I’ll be pushing myself to the limits with heat, altitude, deep caving, kayaking and trying to overcome my natural vertigo (which I’ve kept quiet until now) It includes some of the most inhospitable terrains on the planet and some of the most hospitable people. I can’t wait to share my adventures.”
Big Railway Adventures follows Nick as he travels the world by train in six one-hour-long episodes. These epic journeys will take in multiple countries and continents to see some of the most dramatic railways the planet has to offer. Along the way Nick will explore the lifestyles of the richest and poorest in some of the world’s most exotic- and beautiful- destinations. Nick will delve into the communities that have it toughest, from the slums to the lavish in this immersive travelogue experience.
Journeys will include the 4th highest railway in the world leading to Machu Picchu in Peru, the Copper Canyon Railway in Mexico and Norway’s Nordland line from Trondheim to Bodo within the Arctic Circle. Later journeys include iconic routes through Alaska, Malaysia and India.
Nick Knowles:
“My love of trains developed when I was a child and my father would take me to stand on a bridge in Southall, London, to watch old steam locomotives run by underneath. I have also been fascinated by, have visited and have even lived with indigenous cultures in Australia and the Navajo in the US. A chance to combine the two with some of the best camera men and film makers to showcase the wonders of the world is a lifetime’s ambition made real. There’s so much to show from the cloud forests of Peru to the Fjords of Norway, Ancient India to the vast and epic Copper Canyon in Mexico. I know these films will be a visual feast and full of amazing people living extraordinary lives.”
