The Secret Mediterranean with Trevor McDonald (2011)
The 21 countries that surround the Mediterranean Sea contain more cultures living side by side than anywhere else on Earth, as well as several little-known locations. In this four-part series, Sir Trevor McDonald explores the unique cultures hidden around the sea and goes far beyond the average tourist attraction to uncover what the area truly has to offer. During his travels, McDonald meets a variety of interesting people and partakes in unusual traditions and events as he discovers the forgotten and overlooked wonders of the Mediterranean.
Seasons & Episode
In the first episode Sir Trevor visits three countries where history cannot be ignored by those living their today: the Italian city of Venice, Turkey’s capital Istanbul and its southern coastline and the Mediterranean’s most famous coastline which has always traded on its glamorous reputation, the French Riviera
In this episode Sir Trevor visits three countries where the landscape has determined how people live there, whether it is living by an ancient lagoon, being a cowboy in southern France or turning a barren Tunisian landscape into a multi-million pound Hollywood film set.
In this episode Sir Trevor travels to deepest Morocco and meets the young British vets working with mountaintribes to ensure the working animals upon which they rely on are kept healthy. In Barcelona he explores the magnificent La Sagrada Familia and then to Italy’s third biggest city Naples, where he meets a judge who is trying to smash the local mafia and meets some of the people who live in the shadow of one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world – Vesuvius. Which scientists believe is overdue a major eruption.
In this final episode Sir Trevor visits three countries which have been shaped by conflict – Cyprus a divided island after a bitter conflict in 1974 , Malta, the most fought over island in the history of the Mediterranean and Egypt, which for 3000 years was the dominant power in the region.