User reviews

There is a slot in the programming schedule, after House of Games and before the One Show that for three months of the year is It Takes Two.

But for the other nine you get something like this: a bacchanalia of the natural, the old fashioned, the quote unquote "wholesome".

There is indeed something admirable at showing off the beauty of England's North-East and plugging the fun things you can do there, supporting certain businesses in the process.

The celebrity guests are usually charming and have something interesting to say but what taints this show and others of its ilk is this aggressive positivity.

Everyone is just SO HAPPY to be there. Every activity is such a win. It is this pornographic vision of those parents that can't stand that anyone would play Halo indoors if it was above freezing outside and you could count twigs instead.

I admit that I may have a chip on my shoulder about this kind of thing. I admit that it is good to get out of the house and a lot of the activities look fun (especially goat yoga) though a lot of it is stupid and pretentious stuff tailored for folks with more money than acumen (and not that much money).

But Robson also has something of a chip on his shoulder about "unplugging" and "reconnecting to nature" and this waxing philosophical about the healing powers of nature. He can't shut up about it. Even when he's doing a cool thing he keeps bringing up how there are "no screens". Robinson: just do the thing. Show don't tell.

I watched this when I visited my parents and I suppose it is for that audience of people who are disenfranchized with modernity and don't really do streaming platforms. Or maybe I'm the bigot for saying that, I don't know.

Oh, and the title sequence...it is so annoying to go through that exhausting montage every time with that brief piano phrase repeated over and over and over.