Celebrity Race Across the World
BBC1
★★★☆☆
“I’m very competitive,” said Alex Beresford, unnecessarily, in the finale of Celebrity Race Across the World. No! We’d never have guessed. But Harry Judd gave him a run for his money on that front, dragging his poor mum away from a warm comfy bed to catch a night bus to Narvik in Norway to get in pole position for the morning to reach the finish line, Tromso.
Although that remark does Harry’s mum, Emma, 63, a huge disservice. When Harry suggested prising her away from the nice sofa she instantly rose to her feet in a way that I, frankly, would not have. She has been happy to sleep on hard floors and run in heels dragging her suitcase. But then she clearly loves her son so much you get the sense she’d do anything for him. I suspect she’d butter him and eat him on toast if she could.
One of the sweetest things about this series has been their relationship. It broke her heart when he effectively left home at age 17 to join the pop band McFly. “It sounds pathetic but before this trip I thought, do I really know Harry? Does he really know me?” she said. She had even wondered if he still loved her. But after spending time together, during which he said he felt he was seeing her as she would have been at 17 or 18, she concluded: “I feel loved. And I love him.” Bless. But, again, it was unnecessary to tell us this because her face lights up like a Roman candle in his presence.
Alex’s father, Noel, meanwhile, admitted he had lost confidence after retirement, something he has never told his son before. It was all quite poignant.
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No spoilers regarding who won, but it did slightly detract from the dramatic tension that one team had to pull out, leaving it a three-horse race. Any of these teams would have been a worthy victor (the actual winner was no surprise).
But obviously this show wasn’t really about who wins anyway. It’s about returning to simple, familial relationships in a slightly stressful situation to remember what’s important in life. It would be interesting to know how quickly their old lives swallow them back up again.
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