The Naked Pilgrim Explained

Genre:	Documentary
Director:	Steven Green
Presenter:	Brian Sewell
Theme Music Composer:	Srdjan Kurpjel
Country:	United Kingdom
Language:	English
Num Episodes:	6
Executive Producer:	Martin Durkin
Network:	Five

The Naked Pilgrim is documentary series produced by British broadcaster Five and presented by art critic Brian Sewell. First broadcast in 2003, the series follows Sewell on the Catholic pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

The series, ostensibly an arts travelogue about the pilgrimage route, was notable for Sewell wrestling with his own loss of faith and for his emotional responses to the pilgrims he encountered. Each episode features a leg of the pilgrimage route with a diversion in the third episode to visit the shrine at Lourdes.

The series was a success for Five and was watched by more than one million people - the channel's biggest audience for an arts programme.

The series won the prestigious Sandford St. Martin Trust award for Best Religious Programme. It was released on DVD in 2004.

In the show, Sewell drives on the pilgrimage a bronze 1988 Mercedes-Benz C126 560SEC coupe (registration E132 NWP), that previously belonged to 1992 Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell.^{[1] [2]}

Locations

Episode 1

• Paris - Sainte Chapelle, Sacré-Cœur, Montmartre, Notre Dame de Paris

Episode 2

• Chartres, Pons, Orléans

Episode 3

• Bordeaux, Poitiers, Lourdes

Episode 4

• Roncesvalles, Bermeo, Guernica, Bilbao

Episode 5

• Burgos, Fromista, León

Episode 6

• Santiago de Compostela

External links

Critical Reception

• The Guardian, "Sewell bares body and soul for Five" (TV Preview), Ciar Byrne, 19 June 2003.
• The Guardian, "The life of Brian" (TV Review), 2 July 2003 (paragraphs 1-5).
• The Guardian, "My kingdom for a hearse" (TV Review), Nancy Banks-Smith, 22 July 2003 (paragraphs 6-11).
• London Evening Standard, "Anguish of the TV presenter," Brian Sewell, 1 July 2003. (version archived 6 June 2011)
• New Statesman review
• The Scotsman, "Not so much the Naked Pilgrim as the haughty hagiographer" (review), 30 June 2003.
• The Scotsman, "Naked brilliance of braying Brian" (review), 2 July 2003 (paragraphs 1-7).
• Times review (1) (logon required)
• Times review (2) (logon required)
• Times best television programmes of 2003 (logon required)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2002-11-02 . Portrait of a driver: Brian Sewell . 2023-10-25 . The Telegraph . en.
2. Web site: 2018-04-02 . 1982 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC C126 and 1986 560SEC - reliving Eighties F1 with the ex-Senna, Manseil and Rosberg cars . 2023-10-25 . Drive . en-US.