A Year in Provence with Carol Drinkwater

If you want to know how to take something as fascinating and beautiful as the south of France and make it into a tedious bag of cliches and meaningless superlatives, this is the show for you. And why would anyone care that she was on some hoary old British tv show a million years ago?

Normally quite enjoy this type of programme, but it really comes down to the presenter I suppose. She comes across as a bit up herself to be honest, it seems more about her than the country she's in. It was incredibly tedious.

A delightful series hosted by actress Carol Drinkwater, author of the series of best-selling memoirs about her experiences on her olive farm in Provence. This documentary series explores the beauty of Provence and is a blend of local Provencal flavours and her life on her olive farm, Appassionata. In a year when travel has been limited, this little gem of a series offers escapism, from the azure waters to fields of luxurious lavender. .

I usually like this type of show and while I'm still watching it, it's probably because I can't find anything else on Britbox at the moment to watch. At first, I thought this was made about 10 - 15 years ago and was surprised when I saw it was a 2021 production. It just feels a bit old-fashioned. The scenery is okay, but the awkward conversations Carol has with people out and about is strained and and sometimes a little hard to watch. I'm not sure if it comes naturally to her, actually. In fact, it seems like they don't even want to be part of the show.

And I agree with another reviewer, Carol seems a bit up herself (I'm Australian, so we always think that about the English). Michel seems lovely, though, and Marvin, well, I'm not sure if he's ever cracked a smile in his life!

The last two episodes are probably the best, so if you can persevere, do.