An Idiot Abroad
| An Idiot Abroad | |
 Promotional photo of Karl | |
| Genre | Comedy/Travel show |
| Running time | 60 min |
| Creator(s) | Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant |
| Starring | Karl Pilkington |
| Country | UK |
| Network | Sky1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
An Idiot Abroad (formerly known as Karl Pilkington's Seven Wonders Of The World) is an upcoming travel show on Sky1. It features Karl Pilkington travelling the globe in order to visit each of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. During his travels Karl will visit Great Wall of China, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Macchu Picchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Taj Mahal in India, Petra in Jordan, The Colosseum in Rome and the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant got the idea for this show after Karl had mentioned that he thought they were all a bit boring and had no interest in seeing them.
In February 2010 Ricky Gervais stated via his blog that Karl had lost weight due to the food in India, or as Ricky put it "he shat himself thin". Ricky also confirmed that he and Stephen Merchant have been involved with the editing of the show.
Name Change Controversy
The show was initially titled Karl Pilkington's Seven Wonders of the World, however the decision was taken by Ricky to change the name to the more provocative An Idiot Abroad behind Karl's back. The name change was actually revealed to Karl halfway through the show in order to record his reaction. Karl himself has said in interviews that he thinks the name change will harm the show and that people will not want to watch a program about an idiot.
In a poll on Pilkipedia 61% of fans reported to be happy with the name change.
Programme
‘An Idiot Abroad’ began transmission on 23rd September 2010 on Sky 1. The ‘docuseries’ was produced by Karl Pilkingtons’ podcast and radio show colleagues Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and follows Karl’s trip around the globe to visit the exotic wonders of the world. Sites such as Machu Pinchu and The Pyramids at Giza produces an indifferent reaction from Pilkington who had enraged Gervais by stating that they “are a bit shit”.
Whether the experience broadened Karls’ horizons remains to be seen, but the series is a classic piece of travelogue, style programming that never fails to entertain. During the editing process Gervais stated on his blog“I cannot wait for this show to air. Karl is the funniest, baldest, grumpiest Manc tw*t in the world.”