Having first disembarked upon Britain's windswept shores in 1973, Iowa-born writer Bill Bryson spent the best part of two decades living among the inhabitants of our small, often charming and occasionally exasperating island.

In 1998, inspired by his best-selling book Notes from a Small Island, Bill returned to his adopted country for a humorous and affectionate television safari – conducted over six episodes. This series saw him journeying from Dover to John O'Groats while trying to explain what it was that first attracted him to this land of rain, sweet tea and disagreeable landladies.

Between hailing a London cab driven by Stephen Fry, analysing Scouse humour with Alexei Sayle and conversing with Victoria Wood in a Bournemouth beach hut, Bill puts it all into perspective – taking in blue plaques, ballroom dancers, fell runners, cable tossers and churches called St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe along the way...