Al and Antoine de Caunes meet in Paris to explore and investigate the brawling that has been the typical form of Anglo-French discourse over the last thousand years. They begin by looking at The Hundred Years War of 1337-1453, in which English soldiers armed with bows and arrows killed French knights at the Battles of Crecy and Agincourt. Before discussing Napoleon and rumours that the English poisoned him and then stole his body, plus the English taking credit for French inventions. After so much discord across the channel will Al and Antoine find an Entente Cordiale as they discuss a millennium of shared Anglo-French history?
Al and Elis James begin their journey around north-west Wales as Al shows Elis his vision of the country. By driving to a rural retreat where the Penrhyn Male Voice Choir perform a rousing anthem: “The Two Patriots”, while a flock of sheep gambols past and children play rugby. As the episode progresses Al and Elis discuss some of the historic gripes that Wales and England’s lengthy shared history has developed including, the history of the Prince of Wales, Welsh clichés and the Lyn Celyn Reservoir. They also discover the efforts undertaken to preserve the Welsh language and why Welshmen historically wanted to be known as sheep shaggers.
Al and Fred MacAulay spend three days taking in sites of discord between the English and the Scottish, following the River Clyde from Glasgow to Stirling. The pair visit the location of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, one of Scotland’s greatest military victories over the English in the year 1297. Al and Fred also sample the national dish of Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, and debate the significance of Robert Burns, William Wallace’s Scottishness and Scottish currency. The pair then discuss the controversial decision to base the UK’s nuclear submarines at Faslane, 30 miles outside Glasgow, turning the city into a target in the event of atomic war. The discussion takes place over breakfast in their hotel, with Fred using bread rolls to represent the Vanguard submarine fleet. On their journey the pair also discover how the English came to ban tartan, following the Battle of Culloden in 1745.
Knowing how difficult it is to excite the Germans, Al sets off to impress Henning Wehn by parachuting in to meet him on the landing strip at Hamburg. His effort pays off when Henning claims to be “well impressed”, but he doesn’t realise that Henning has already confided to our crew that Al’s a right wally and should have just flown in like any normal traveller. Through the show, Al and Henning chat about the acrimonious history between the two nations from England stealing Christmas to two World Wars and one World Cup. Given Al’s great interest in the history of World War Two, the pair investigate how much of Hamburg has survived the Allied bombing raids, cover how German engineering has gazumped the once world-beating English car manufacturing industry and discuss who was better: The Beatles or Kraftwerk?