The Ganges
Episode One
Sue begins her journey at the source of the Ganges in the highest mountains on earth. It's been a tough year for the comedian following the death of her father and her journey has a profound effect.
Episode Two
Halfway along her journey, Sue immerses herself in the complex life of the ancient city of Varanasi - a place seen as the spiritual centre of India by millions of Hindus that also contains some of the most polluted stretches of the river.
Episode Three
Sue learns how Patna has become a centre of education, visits the "miracle village" of Daveshpura, catches up with some old friends in Kolkata and visits some of the islands at the mouth of the river and beyond.
Kolkata
Sue Perkins immerses herself in the complex life of Kolkata. She sees first-hand how it has evolved from a place notorious for its fabled 'Black Hole' dungeon and the dreadful poverty of its street people to a place reinventing itself as a vibrant new megacity, with a booming property sector and a reputation for eccentricity, culture and tolerance.
In this intricate human habitat, Sue explores the lives of its people, from the 250,000 homeless street kids hustling for a living to the wealthy young entrepreneurs who race their Ferraris and Lamborghinis down the streets of the New Town.
She joins the rickshaw wallahs navigating the chaotic city streets and narrow lanes, thronged with people, and descends into Kolkata's Victorian sewers as part of an epic clean-up. She limbers up with the ladies of the Laughing Club and makes an offering to the goddess in the sacred Kalighat Temple.
No other city tells the remarkable story of India more clearly than the beautiful, crazy, colourful city of Kolkata. Through encounters with people from every strata of society, from the richest to the poorest, Sue paints a picture of contemporary India emerging from a brutal colonial past to take its place among the most powerful nations on earth.
The Mekong
Episode One
Sue's epic journey begins in Vietnam, on the vast Mekong Delta, where she joins Si Hei, the queen of the noodle. Starting at dawn, they head out to sell noodle soup at the Delta's largest floating market that's endured for centuries. Vietnam is the world's second largest exporter of rice, so Sue moves upstream to work with farmers in the paddy fields and finds out how their lives are changing with the prospect of capitalism.
Episode Two
Sue Perkins continues her epic journey up the Mekong, south east Asia's greatest river. In this second episode, Sue embarks on the most emotional leg of her journey along the Mekong. Having learned how people are struggling to recover from the legacy of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, animal lover Sue continues through Cambodia to witness how deforestation and wildlife crime are stripping the country of it last wild places.
Episode Three
In this third episode, Sue reaches Laos, one of the poorest and least developed of all the Mekong nations. It's a country shaped by both Buddhism and Communism and has hardly changed for centuries. Today, the beauty of its landscapes and people is bringing in foreign tourists - backpackers in search of unspoilt Asia.
Episode Four
In this fourth and final episode, Sue reaches her final destination - China, home to the source of the Mekong. Here, change is sweeping through faster than any other Mekong nation, as China's economic miracle transforms even the remotest regions.
Japan
Episode One
Sue Perkins starts her journey in Tokyo, Japan's glittering capital city and home to 36 million people. She trains with a female sumo wrestling team, meets a family who live with robots and attends a solo-wedding.
Episode Two
Kyoto, Japan's geishas; free diving with ama divers; a visit to Hiroshima; exploring how the Japanese are tackling the future in Tokyo.
