Long Way Down

Long Way Down

2007
Long Way Down
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Long Way Down
Watch on

Long Way Down

8.3 | en | Documentary

Three years after Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman set off on a 15,000-mile journey from the northernmost tip of Scotland to the southernmost tip of South Africa, mixing their love of motorcycles with the lure of far-flung roads.

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Seasons & Episodes

1
EP4  Tobruk, Libya to Khartoum, Sudan
Nov. 18,2007
Tobruk, Libya to Khartoum, Sudan

In Libya, the boys visit Tobruk War Cemetery; Ewan is touched by the amount of people buried there from all over the world. It is an emotional day for the boys as they realize how much they miss their families back home. Arriving safely in Egypt the team are reunited again when David and Jimmy meet them at the border. Riding through Egypt there is still doubt as to whether they will make it to Aswan in time for the ferry. They are starting to feel the strain of the long days on the bikes, if they don't make it in time they will have to wait for a week before they can continue with the trip. This will delay them hugely and put pressure on their relationships. Ewan and Charley visit the pyramids in Cairo and are extremely lucky to have a private guided tour.

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Tobruk, Libya to Khartoum, Sudan

In Libya, the boys visit Tobruk War Cemetery; Ewan is touched by the amount of people buried there from all over the world. It is an emotional day for the boys as they realize how much they miss their families back home. Arriving safely in Egypt the team are reunited again when David and Jimmy meet them at the border. Riding through Egypt there is still doubt as to whether they will make it to Aswan in time for the ferry. They are starting to feel the strain of the long days on the bikes, if they don't make it in time they will have to wait for a week before they can continue with the trip. This will delay them hugely and put pressure on their relationships. Ewan and Charley visit the pyramids in Cairo and are extremely lucky to have a private guided tour.

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EP1  Gentlemen, Start Your Engines
Oct. 28,2007
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

After finding a suitable base Ewan and Charley spend several months in London prior to departure, planning a route. Eve, Ewan's wife, decides she would like to join part of the trip. Ewan is over the moon but Charley's not so sure as she's never ridden a bike before. Meanwhile, as part of their training, the team attends a hostile environment course where they are faced with the kind of difficulties and dangers they may encounter in Africa. Two months before departure, Ewan has an accident and breaks his leg jeopardizing the future of the trip. As the departure date looms worryingly the team still doesn't have their visas for Libya. Six have been promised, but for David and Jimmy, the two Americans on the crew, it's not looking promising. The team take their vehicles and make their way up to John O'Groats at the most Northerly point of Scotland to start this epic adventure and what will be a journey of a lifetime.

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Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

After finding a suitable base Ewan and Charley spend several months in London prior to departure, planning a route. Eve, Ewan's wife, decides she would like to join part of the trip. Ewan is over the moon but Charley's not so sure as she's never ridden a bike before. Meanwhile, as part of their training, the team attends a hostile environment course where they are faced with the kind of difficulties and dangers they may encounter in Africa. Two months before departure, Ewan has an accident and breaks his leg jeopardizing the future of the trip. As the departure date looms worryingly the team still doesn't have their visas for Libya. Six have been promised, but for David and Jimmy, the two Americans on the crew, it's not looking promising. The team take their vehicles and make their way up to John O'Groats at the most Northerly point of Scotland to start this epic adventure and what will be a journey of a lifetime.

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8.3 | en | Documentary | More Info
Released: 2007-10-28 | Released Producted By: , Country: United Kingdom Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0087bps
Synopsis

Three years after Long Way Round, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman set off on a 15,000-mile journey from the northernmost tip of Scotland to the southernmost tip of South Africa, mixing their love of motorcycles with the lure of far-flung roads.

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Cast

Charley Boorman , Ewan McGregor , David Alexanian

Director

David Alexanian

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Trailers

Reviews

tinyone2 I absolutely loved Long Way Round. It was an adventure with 2 lads that inspired and intrigued.So when this documentary was aired, I was excited to see the next leg of the adventure. But the first episode was pretty much like Long Way Round. Same issues, same struggles, same everything really. A tad boring.Then they head off to Africa. A place I was looking forward to explore with them. Unfortunately they were constantly rushing and talking about time. Africa is soooo not about time. Besides, I was hoping to watch this without being reminded of the pressures of my day job. Instead the constant issues about time was exhausting to watch. I didn't want to watch endurance, I wanted to watch adventure.Then Ewan decided to take his wife along. Yawn!! What a buzz kill. She looks lovely and it is wonderful he wanted to share it with her. But that is a poor entertainment decision, as she was bland and boring and overbearing. Absolutely killed it for me. He shouldve taken her on a different trip on his own time. Ewan also winged constantly, complaining and moaning. Africa is not for the faint hearted and surely he shouldve known that. Not to mention, if I wanted to hear some one whine Id go back to work instead of trying to relax in front of the telly listening to his complaining.He also seemed more aware of the camera and playing up for the camera than the first. This felt like a more calculated money making scheme than 2 mates wanting to ride bikes. It felt fake and forced.Honestly, this one was a huge disappointment for me. A heavy painful experience that I wish I didn't see.
Steve West The first adventure seemed to be an actor's version of travelling around the world. But the cameras and support team did allow us to be in on their great adventure to pretty much unseen (to non-locals) parts of the world.Long Way Down re-unites the old team, now all good friends for a trip to another adventurous part of the world, Africa. Race to Dakar could be viewed almost as a scouting trip for this journey.To begin with Charley and Ewan say that they don't want to do a three and a half-month journey again but curiously their second journey seems to be 3 months long. Their schedule is more compressed and less free-ranging, and they have been allotted less episodes to tell their story in (one less episode makes a noticeable difference). And affecting it even further is the unusual addition of a fourth rider, Ewan's wife, for 10 days of the journey, who up until a few months before the starting date had never ridden a motorbike.The presentation is identical to Long Way Round due to being made by the same people, and the journey starts off fairly similar in the European leg (a more adventurous route along the Balkan peninsula was abandoned in the planning stages). Also they have again chosen to use large, heavy BMW motorbikes, but presumably due to the X5's fragility in Race to Dakar, the support vehicles are two Nissan Patrols.The series starts to get interesting when they reach Libya where US citizens are not allowed. Minus two of the crew, Charlie and Ewan are shown around some Roman ruins that rival those in Rome. Until more equatorial latitudes are reached, Charlie and Ewan essentially complain about the tight schedule and not being able to enjoy the experience. They relax as the scenery turns green and they reach areas with more infrastructure, and essentially have a blast the rest of the way except for the frequent border crossings. By the time the scenery turns brown (but not desert) again they are trying to savour the last of their experience. However most of what we see only seems like scratching the surface, if the story was a little more in-depth it may have captured the feeling of adventure than the first journey had. As it is it only seems like an extended highlights reel and unfortunately in a few places has a home movie feel to it as it is essentially a gathering of friends and family.Overall I think it's a good look at another less well-known part of the world, Africa, but it seems a little flat and forgettable in comparison. It is still (mostly) compelling viewing and makes me want to explore Africa myself.
rachel_wildman79 Granted the LWD didn't have the kind of edge Long Way Round had but lets not forget, Ewan and Charlie never started this with the intentions making it into a DVD. It specifically says at the beginning of LWR that they initially planned to film it themselves as their own record but a second thought was to do it properly.This is not a made up drama series, it's real life... they don't write what comes over the next boarder, what's over the next hill... take it as you come. I am glad that they were kind enough to let us into their adventure.Really liking the Long Way Down Under idea though.
royzkeano Watched the whole of LWD on Love film after catching most of it on the TV. I was just left mildly interested, but ultimately uninspired. I still can't quite put my finger on it, other than say to LWD just didn't deliver.The reasons for this I feel are 1. Six episodes, as opposed to 10 on the extended LWR DVD. So felt rushed, someone said they went though three countries in one hr on one of the episodes? The guy's said they didn't want to be away from their family's for an extended period of time- no problem with this but the schedule compromised the quality of the show. A lot of moaning in particular.2. Support crew were a main character as much as Charley & Ewan- this of course completely understandable in Africa where they were often in unstable territory, so need to stick together, but from an exploration/enjoyment point of view made it a less appealing show.3. Ewan's wife, Eve, being a part of the trip- just didn't understand why they allowed a rider with virtually no experience to ride in a really tough environment- also no explanation of when she passed her bike test, we see her doing her CBT & then nothing? It was quite clear that Charley was not in favour, although he cover this well, so as not to upset Ewan. I think most of the crew, other than David Alexanian were think the same thing.4. Lack of detail- LWR seemed to cover a lot more & seemed more "from scratch" whereas LWD was more corparate & rushed. I don't think the audience cared so much for the characters & where didn't seem t be in so many compromising situations.I watched Race-to-Dakar as well. Also read the book, and found that more interesting, though not enough to buy it.LWD did have some good points in it though. Seeing the ferry from Italy to Tunisia, as described in Ted Simon's Juniper's travels was great; seeing how different counties dealt with not having medical care- as we know it; the great work that Unicef do & the history of the conflict that went on- & is still going on in Darfur.Love watching these guys & hope they take more care with Long Way Up!