Review: Travels With My Father, Netflix

Review: Travels With My Father, Netflix

Jack Whitehall's latest comic travelogue with his curmudgeonly dad Michael in tow is set in Australia, but apart from the location everything else here is pretty much the same. Childish humour, grumpy parent, beautiful scenery.

The formula is pretty well-established now and it largely works, so why mess that much with it. So whereas Whitehall senior was previously wound up by being confronted by naked bottoms during a nude yoga class, here he is confronted by naked bottoms on a nudist beach. 

As ever the idea is to get Jack into unexpected scrapes such as being a cricket mascot and "daddy" doing things that he hates – obviously you'd expect him to hate wearing a dress at a drag club, but actually when he goes onstage as the Queen complete with wig and handbag he seems to be quietly enjoying it. 

There is, to be fair, a bit of a twist in the first episode, which could actually be retitled Travels With My Parents, as Whitehall's mother pitches up too. Her son even has a bit of a heart to heart with her about how he seems to be the only one of her offspring who has not settled down, despite being the oldest. 

But this brief moment of vulnerability does not last very long and soon Whitehall is at a speed dating/wine tasting event looking for someone he might possibly – though probably not - take to his sister's imminent wedding. If any tabloids are looking for something to be offended by they will find it here when Whitehall attempts a Jamaican accent (a subject he has previous on). 

Travels With My Father is not without laughs, but at an hour long it starts to outstay its welcome towards the end. There are only so many times you can hear a posh 31-year-old call his father "daddy". Though I did perk up when Whitehall was learning how to do a shit in the bush without being attacked by insects. The secret is to dig two holes and leave a "decoy nugget" in the first one. So that hour wasn't completely wasted.

Available on Netflix.com now.

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