Natives get restless when Ian Wright is around, often for the best of reasons. The intrepid globetrotter has a knack for pushing the “travelogue as an open form of narrative” to its limits, and has the level of presenter cachet producers and networks like. In presenting the off-beat TLC travelogue series Invite Mr Wright, the famous Englishman immerses himself in an unusual cultural microcosm with each episode, often with hilarious results.
Invite Mr Wright is not unique among shows in the lifestyle genre that prefers presenters, in a television era that favours a ratings formula of information with a heavy dose of entertainment, even in
factual programming.It’s a delicate balance, Wright admits.
“The ones that irritate me are those where stars do the show, because then it is really more about them, rather than the amazing things that are happening in that country,” Wright said in an interview with TV Asia Plus, adding that the TLC series showcases various locations through the eyes of natives who ‘chaperon’ him.
In Season 2 of the series, which premiered in March, Wright inadvertently becomes the Okinawa football club’s mascot, struggles with a capsized boat in the jungles of Sumatra, gets rough with the Top End Mud racers in Darwin, survives a three-day tribal wedding in a North Vietnam village, cooks for 300 Rumtek monks in India, and learns how to whip up a signature dish from a celebrity chef in Singapore.
The appeal of Ian Wright as a travel show presenter is undeniable after hosting roughly 60 episodes of
Pilot Productions’ successful series Globe Trekker, but one will be surprised to fi nd out it initially took a while to fi nd a network for his now-familiar engaging, infotainment style of hosting.
“In America, when we first did the [travelogue] programme 20 years ago, Discovery Channel bought it
and dropped it after the year, because they felt that it was too radical. But there was nothing in it that was radical! That’s just where they were at 20 years ago. Then they bought Travel and Living Channel (now TLC), and it went back into the programming slate five years later.”
Factual programming production, particularly the lifestyle genre, has evolved signifi cantly in the past
decade, spurred by advancements in technology and changing economic realities.
“These days you just carry two bags, so people are making more travelogues, rougher documentaries
than they’ve ever had. There’s a rougher, fl y-on-the-wall element,” Wright said, “Production budgets
are half of what they used to be, especially since the recession,” he explained, and added that compact HD camcorders made it possible for Pilot Productions to shoot most of Invite Mr Wright with
just a two-man crew. As a result, Wright said, “Season 2 is a ‘rougher’ documentary.”
And just how much pre-production creative input did Wright have this time? In typical Wright fashion, the presenter said, “None in planning the show, I just turn up and do my monkey business.”
Season 2 of Invite Mr Wright premiered on March 29 on TLC Asia.
