"If television is 'dumbing down' then no one has told Sir Peter. He remains substantial proof that it isn't…The film was an antidote to the 'have celeb will travel' school of programme-making. Flying in the face of the seemingly widespread belief that travel programmes must be glamour-led, C4's new four-part series replaced glitz and gloss with girth and gravitas…" James Rampton in The Independent on Sunday 29.11.98
"This entertaining and illuminating four-parter is definitely a series to follow" The Daily Mail 23.11.98
"The politics is lightly worn, punctuated by the Ustinov repertoire of accents and funny accents, from a taxi horn to Scottish pipes" The Times