A committed Reeve fan since "Equator" (of 2006), I approached "Turkey with Simon Reeve" with considerable expectation - and was not disappointed. Like Michael Palin before him, Reeve manages the tricky feat of presenting "travel documentaries", rather than "holiday programmes", and one mostly tends to feel by the end credits that our host has imbued us with a pretty good sense of what makes a given country tick.
That the above claim is true is made clear immediately by Reeve's conscious or unconscious decision to confine himself to just a single mention (and a total lack of film footage) of Turkish archaeological sites, notwithstanding their presence in the country to the extent that there is easily enough material for 3 travel-type programmes, should one choose not to focus on political and sociological issues.
But Reeve is interested in history to the extent that it explains the dilemmas today's (in this case Turkish) state and nation face, though admittedly part - a charming part - of his approach is to relish and celebrate beauty (be it natural, architectural or inner human) where and when he finds it.
This ensures, quite rightly, that Turkey emerges from his show (perhaps more than any other on the subject) as astoundingly, magnificently beautiful. This is not a whitewash, this is just a fact, and we in the audience are let into that secret by a host who is himself a little enigmatic. Thinnish, mostly a touch unshaven and slightly insignificant-looking, the apparently self-made and self-trained Reeve offers just the right eclectic mix of at-times childlike wonder, resilience, conviviality, savoir-faire and worldly-wisdom. He is neither posh nor common, tougher than he looks, and is seemingly able to switch from sagely expert to wide-eyed innocent with ease. This ensures that he never lets his opinions rule the programme, and that means that when he does deliver them, we take notice all the more.
For Reeve does have something to say (especially on rights-related, military and environmental issues), does seize chances to probe and question (in his gentle way), and does manage to pack a large number of key and mostly complex issues and insights (many entirely new to me at least) into 120 minutes.
A born - and tangibly sympathetic - listener, Reeve regularly seems to override the language barrier (notwithstanding the constant hidden presence of translators), persuading all and sundry (TV viewer not excluded) of his genuineness and his concern, and his special kind of warmth. It is simply impressive how many apparently spontaneous hugs and pats on the back he seems to receive, or how often the subjects he deals with in his conversations bring moisture to the eyes of his interviewees.
Equally impressive is how few genuinely bad-guys he manages to meet as he travels and makes regular stops across a country that covers nearly 800,000 square kilometres.
Thus "Turkey with Simon Reeve" does far better than all newspaper articles and quite a few books (or at least book chapters) in showing us, not merely the stunning landscape and seascape that is Turkey, but also the pride and needs of its people(s), and the enigma represented by President Erdogan and his apparent wish to develop a less-secular Turkey that turns its back on Ataturk and plays quite fast and loose with human rights, while still winning the approval of many poor and underprivileged people, and promoting business and prestige projects, allowing some at least to become super-rich on the back of his boom.
Importantly and usefully, this programme was made after the attempted military coup, and Reeve leaves us in no doubt as to how actually-useful that event has proved to be for the more-authoritarian version of the populist Erdogan.
Put simply, then, this is hugely interesting, often awe-inspiring and pretty varied television in the hands of an unassuming but appealing and insightful host.
It would be hard to expect more.
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