Hit the Road Jack

In this show, we see Jack Whitehall travel the UK giving his take on each place through celebrity guest interviews, Beadle-esque hidden camera sketches and a night spent with residents of the host city. So far we have seen him visit both Cardiff and Newcastle.

I have to say, this surprised me greatly.

When channel four first started to laud the coming of this show, I was unsure as to whether Jack Whitehall could pull-off character work. Should you have read my review of Fresh Meat, you will see where I was coming from, I am sure. My concern at the time was that the character played by Whitehall was simply an extension of the persona he portrays onstage, so really showed little acting ability beyond any we were already seeing but I am happy to say that I really do feel the characters we see him play work.

In general, I am not a fan of the type of shows which have hidden camera pranks – even in the heyday of the format with the likes of Candid Camera I found it generally to be quite an immature, lazy excuse for comedy, although I was quite a pretentious teen! The modern wave of shows following the format seem to have an added quality of cruelty and general disregard for the people being duped which to my mind is completely unnecessary. Jack’s pranks don’t do that: they have an element of reality to them that does not leave the subject seeming (and I guess feeling) a complete tool for falling for them and as such we can just enjoy them for what they are. Ok, maybe they are not falling-about-on-the-floor funny, but entertaining-and-I’d-happily-watch-more funny… and there isn’t much more you could ask from a television show than that really, is there?

The other elements work well, too; the guests thus far have been very entertaining and taken on the spirit of the show whilst the sketches showing how Jack passed an evening with his hosts are also very funny.

You can catch the two episodes which have aired already on the 4od player by clicking the pic below:



Next episode is on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 10.35pm and obviously on +1 at 11.35… check listings for other repeats. No excuses for missing it; it’s well worth half an hour of anyone’s time!