Billy Connolly's World Tour consists of five television travel documentaries featuring comedian Billy Connolly. It was released in five series released between 1994 and 2018.
World Tour of Scotland
World Tour of Scotland is a six-part television series – the first of Billy Connolly's "world tours" – originally broadcast by the BBC in July and August 1994. It involves his touring around his homeland for 54 nights during early 1994, beginning in Greenock and visiting cities and towns and performing live on stage to audiences. However, this, like all his other tours, involves more than just shows: he visits numerous places of historic and scenic value, as well as some places that resonate with his own upbringing.
The series is dedicated "with much love and thanks to the people of Scotland". It has since been released on VHS and DVD. On the latter format, the six episodes are split across two discs.
The series is often repeated on the UKTV channels Dave and Blighty.
Opening and closing titles The opening titles feature an aerial view of the Range Rover (driven by Connolly throughout the series) making its way through various locations and weathers. The camera is mounted atop four metal legs, several feet in length.
The closing titles feature an excerpt of Connolly's performing his cover of Van Morrison's "Irish Heartbeat", live at Edinburgh's Usher Hall, over landscape views of the areas visited in the respective episodes.
Episode guide
Episode 1 The series begins with Connolly aboard a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry sailing down the west coast.
Isle of Arran. As Connolly drives off the ferry, his best friend, Danny Kyle, is shown to be in the passenger seat Brodick Village Hall (concert venue) Connolly is shown playing the banjo with his Isle of Arran-based friends Glasgow Dover Street, the street on which Connolly was born Provand's Lordship The tenement building, on Stewartville Street in Partick, where Connolly lived between the ages of fourteen and twenty Glasgow Cross Necropolis King's Theatre (concert venue) Auchengillan Scout Camp (which Connolly, in Pack 141, visited as a Cub Scout) Loch Lomond
Episode 2
Partick and Govan Stirling (including the MacRobert Centre concert venue) and Bannockburn Kirkcaldy and Forfar (concert venue) Scone Palace Forth Bridge, Forth Road Bridge, and South Queensferry
Episode 3
Blair Atholl (Connolly stays at Blair Castle) Highlands (Loch Garry, near Drumochter, where he skites stones on the ice; also passes Dalwhinnie, Laggan and Findhorn Bridge in Tomatin) Inverness (concert venue at Eden Court, fishing on the River Ness and views of Loch Ness) Culloden Moor
Episode 4
Ulbster, Caithness Wick Ackergill Tower, Caithness Ring of Brogar (referred to by Connolly as the Standing Stones of Brogar) Kirkwall Scapa Flow (to which he travels on the fishing boat Triton) Lerwick, Shetland (including two performances in the same night at the Garrison Theatre; the latter takes him into the next day)
Episode 5 Arbroath (where he samples a smokie and revisits the location at which he lost his virginity) Dundee (including footage from his performance at Caird Hall) Dundee Law (Connolly gives a straight reading of William McGonagall's poem The Tay Bridge Disaster within sight of the Tay Rail Bridge. During the course of filming, a blizzard happens, and about two inches of snow falls) Scottish Borders, Kelso (including footage from his performance at Tait Hall)
Connolly almost ventures into English territory at the end of the episode when he cycles past the "Scotland" sign in Roxburgh. "I've come a bit far here, I believe," he says, after screeching his bike to a halt. "And me out without my passport. It is a Scottish tour, after all."
"One thing confuses me, however," he continued, as he prepares to retrace his route. "If this is the border with England, and that is the border with Scotland, what happens in here? Maybe it is owned by the Manx government, or something. I don't know. Perhaps you can build a house here and never pay tax again."
Episode 6 Edinburgh Edinburgh Castle (including the firing of the one o'clock gun) Court of Session St. Giles' Cathedral Mary King's Close (Annie's room) Usher Hall (concert venue, from where Connolly gives a pre-show piece to camera)
Music The music featured in the series is available on Connolly's 1995 album Musical Tour of Scotland.
Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia
Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia is the second in a line of 'world tours' that follow comedian Billy Connolly on his various travels across the globe.
Filmed over four months in 1995, Connolly takes the viewer on a scenic and informative tour of Australia, a country he first visited in the 1970s, intercut with scenes from his stand-up comedy act at various venues around the country. The tour takes in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Alice Springs and Fraser Island. On the way, Connolly also experiences and demonstrates several Australian customs, traditions, and attractions, including swimming with the dolphins in Perth, eating a pie floater in Adelaide, and visiting several museums and galleries, most of which feature some form of Aboriginal art.
The DVD box-set of the series, released in 2004, contains two discs, each featuring four episodes of the tour. The opening titles feature an Aboriginal man playing a didgeridoo in the foreground, while in the background Connolly drives his Harley-Davidson trike (on which he travels throughout the series, with a New South Wales registration label attached to its rear, which to some may look like a learner's plate) towards and past the camera. The first disc focuses mainly on the southeastern coast of Australia, with Connolly visiting such places as Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle, while the second disc focuses on Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and rural Australia.
Episode guide
Episode 1: Connolly introduces himself and his tour with a preview of where he and his team will be heading and what they will be seeing. He kicks off his tour in October in Sydney by visiting the Harbour Bridge and giving a history of its construction and opening. While on the bridge he points out the Opera House where he performed during his stay in the city. He then takes a tour of the harbour on The Bounty, the ship used in the 1984 film of the same name featuring Mel Gibson. The boat sails past Goat Island, at which point Connolly tells the story of Charlie Anderson, a prisoner who was banished to the island. The boat eventually drops Connolly off at Doyles on the Beach restaurant in Watsons Bay, where he chats with its owner, Peter Doyle. Next, he visits the Financial District of Sydney, where he goes underground (via a "personhole cover") to visit the water-tunnels where the convicts were sent to work. The episode concludes with Connolly taking a seaplane trip to visit famous Australian artist, Ken Done.
Episode 2 starts with Connolly visiting La Perouse, Botany Bay, where Captain Cook first landed on Australian soil in 1770. He tells the story of how close Australia came to being a French colony, if not for Arthur Phillip's landing ahead of French explorer, Jean-François de Galaup, and performs a French version of "Waltzing Matilda" ("Dancing Matilde") for effect. Connolly then travels south-west to visit Australia's capital, Canberra. There he tells the history of the architecture and layout of the city, for which they had a competition that was won by a man named Walter Burley Griffin. Connolly tours the various embassies for each country in the city. He visits the original Australian Government House, built in 1927, and tells the story of the Aboriginal protests outside the house in the same year for recognition as a race. A tent-city was set up by the Aboriginal people, which was eventually driven away. A permanent tent-city was then set up by the Aboriginal people as their own embassy, and it still exists today. Other embassies he visits are the Chinese embassy, French embassy, the Indonesian embassy (where he gets "interrogated" by an officer, who was clearly a fan of the Scot, for filming on an embassy street), and a jocular "pygmy embassy", which was actually an electrical box.
Connolly then heads back to Sydney to be interviewed on the Today program. While in Sydney, he takes a walk along the harbour, watching and listening to various street performers, including a man named Johannes K. Drinda, who whistles classical music. The episode ends with Connolly climbing to the top of the Opera House, from where he tells the story of Jørn Utzon, who designed the building's exterior.
Episode 3: Connolly travels to Newcastle first, stopping en route at Nobby's Point in order to view the city on the horizon and talk about the coal mining industry in the area. From there he goes trout or salmon fishing on Stockton Beach, home of the famous shipwreck. He then rides his trike back to Sydney, making a detour to visit a graveyard in Maitland. There he visits the resting place of Les Darcy, a young Australian boxer who chose to visit America to fight new opponents rather than be conscripted for World War I. He died from influenza, at which point his body was brought back to Australia. This is the first of a few cemetery visits during the tour, due to Connolly's enjoyment of the stories they tell about people's lives. When he arrives back in Sydney, he takes the viewing audience on a walk from his hotel to his gig at the Opera House. Along the way he reads from various brass plaques along the eastern side of Circular Quay, with famous Australian quotes and poems engraved on them. Some of the writings he recites include "My Country" by Dorothea Mackellar, "Unreliable Memoirs" by Clive James, a poem about pie by Barry Humphries, and a quote by Germaine Greer about being homeless until Aborigines are seen as the rightful owners of Australia. Due to the nature of his walking to his show, Connolly meets and interacts with many of the members of his soon-to-be audience. He then heads to the Brett Whiteley Studio, which features many of the late artist's sculptures and paintings, many of which feature small birds and lifelike 3D sculptures. Connolly chats with Whiteley's ex-wife, Wendy Whiteley, about how her then husband bet him $100 to do two consecutive gigs without repeating a joke, which he successfully accomplished. The episode finishes with Connolly viewing more art from the studio.
Episode 4: The Big Yin rides south to Melbourne, Victoria. His first stop is the West Gate Bridge, where he tells the story about the bridge collapse in October 1970, causing the loss of life of 35 men. He then travels into the city and stops at Melbourne Gaol, where outlaw Ned Kelly was hung. Inside the jail, Connolly notes the practice of phrenology which was rife in the era of Kelly. He also points out the various torture devices that were used, including a flogging machine, kidney belt, Cat o' nine tails and anti-masturbation gloves. The final thing he points out is the Ned Kelly shrine in the prison, which documents the fall of the man and holds his personal journal.