TV review: take the plunge with refreshingly great Jules and Greg's Wild Swim on BBC 2
Wild swim- ming is ‘a thing’. As they dive into rivers, lakes and seas, exponents speak of its benefits to physical and mental health.
One celebrity couple have jumped on the paddleboard to make Jules and Greg’s Wild Swim.
The documentary series follows Balamory star couple Julie Wilson Nimmo and Still Game co-creator and star Greg Hemphill as they take the plunge at Scotland’s wild swimming spots, meeting swimmers who share their inspirational stories.
I missed the first series, thank goodness for iPlayer. For the second round of programmes, the couple are travelling round the Scottish islands.
The first stop Barra, the jewel of the Hebrides. They landed on its tidal runway and were greeted by their two sons Benny and Chevy. Together, the family jumped off the rocks of the Western Isles’ only medieval castle and savoured one of Scotland’s most westerly curries.
In the second episode they took on the Uists – bodysurfing the wild North Atlantic, hitching a ride from the crew after their van – Luke the Duke, a blue and white Volkswagen camper van – broke down and topped it all off with island-made gin from a local distillery.
Watch celebrities enjoying themselves on holiday – that often we, through the BBC licence fee – have paid for? I’d rather spend two weeks in a leaky tent on a rain-soaked campsite.
‘Good old’ Monty Python’s Michael Palin travelled the world on our dime until he packed his suitcase for Channel 5, moaning that the BBC wanted a say in the programme making.
There’s Clive Myrie’s Italian Roadtrip and Rob Rinder and Rylan Clark’s A Passage to India, the latest in ‘star indulgence’.
Jules and Greg’s Wild Swim is miles better. It is refreshingly, cleansingly real. There are no five-star hotels for these two outdoor junkies. Small planes, a camper van, fish and chips out of the paper, joy in each other’s company and that of other swimmers.
They talk about the benefits of the pastime, mostly they share what a good time they are having and how great it is to meet people. All set against breath-taking scenery. The programme is a travelogue, a love letter to Scotland.
Jules and, as she calls him, ‘Guidebook Greg’ are great company. They have that affectionate way which comes of being together for 20 years. There is, Rob and Rylan, none of the bickering or sickening sexual innuendo that is, literally, a turn off – or turnover.
There are no nampy pampy wetsuits for this pair – she’s in her one-piece ‘mumsy’ swimming costume and he’s in trunks. They dive straight into waters, calm or choppy, jump from rocks and surf waves.
It is unmistakably cold. While on land they are wrapped from head to toe in woolies and Dry Robes while clutching a mug of tea in chilled hands and sipping it through chattering teeth.
Their joy at being in the sea is unbridled and infectious. I love the look of it; then, I love the look of a Versace frock but I’d never get in it.
Jules and Greg’s Wild Swim is on BBC 2 each Wednesday at 7.30pm.