Just finished watching, Dr Alice Robert and the incredible human journey. I’ve not seen her before, although apparently she’s been around a bit; she’s not a bad presenter; she’s enthusiastic without being gushing, explains clearly without being cringe-worthy simplification. Her semi-plummy tones are slightly irritating, but I guess I can live with that.

The programme was also slightly irritating; the production is rather portentous. From the spoken intro “they say this is where it all began” to “come with me in the footsteps of our ancestors”, sets the tone. I disliked the implication that she was going to sort it all out (“one woman on a global mission, to answer one question”) — it’s not her journey, after all, she’s reviewing the work mostly done by others. It wasn’t till I noticed the end credits that it finally twigged what it was about the programme that bugged me; it’s a Travel channel co-production; in short, it’s the bastard child of Wildlife on One and the Holiday programme; equals parts documentary and advert.

Still, despite this, something interesting poked through. Archaeology is not something that I know a huge amount about; it was good to hear about the new ideas and new evidence that has discovered in the more recent history. Worth watching, on the whole.