Review: Johnny Vegas: Carry On Glamping, C4

Review: Johnny Vegas: Carry On Glamping, C4

Johnny Vegas is having a bit of a moment on TV right now. He co-stars in a trilogy of comedy dramas on Gold from this Saturday, entitled Murder They Hope and he also stars in a comedy documentary with lots of drama which has just started on C4, Carry On Glamping, in which he sets out to open a posh campsite full of pimped-up buses.

As it happens Vegas plays a coach driver in the Gold series but that's not mentioned in episode one of the four-part Carry On Glamping. Instead he seems to have had the random idea of a coach campsite. The idea, he says, was to do something not connected to do with TV. Though, of course, it ends up as a TV programme.

And it looks like a great programme, mixing Grand Designs and Amazing Spaces with Vegas' talent for comedy and chaos. It also has a feel of Meet The Richardsons, a bit of a fly-on-the-wall look at his life alongside patience-of-a-saint PA Bev.

You've got to have jeopardy in a makeover programme and there is plenty of it in part one. Mainly because Vegas kicked off by buying a bus that took his fancy for £5000 online late at night. He then found out it was in Malta, which meant spending more than the cost of the bus getting it to the UK. Where his renovation experts promptly ripped bits off the bus and started to rip Vegas' dream to shreds by suggesting that maybe the sensible option was to scrap it.

Of course, Vegas is not one for sensible options. He is clearly a creative person but this feels more like a passion project than a viable business plan at the start. Despite his mates in the pub mocking him he is determined to see it through. 

Things take a different turn, however, towards the end of episode one when we meet his mother Patricia, who is, what you might call, "a character". As Johnny starts to have doubts about the whole enterprise she tells him firmly to go for it. If it all goes pear-shaped he can always move back home. And once the bus is named Patricia in her honour there is clearly no turning back. Things then get more emotional but we won't spoil that for you. It's best that you follow the Vegas journey yourself. 

Johnny Vegas: Carry on Glamping, Wednesdays at 10pm, C4. All available on All 4.

Tags: 

Articles on beyond the joke contain affiliate ticket links that earn us revenue. BTJ needs your continued support to continue - if you would like to help to keep the site going, please consider donating.

Zircon - This is a contributing Drupal Theme
Design by WeebPal.