Three Men Go To Venice

The trio of Rory McGrath, Griff Rhys Jones and Dara O Briain head to Montenegro, where they catch a lift on a military motor yacht that used to be used by Marshal Tito, the leader of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. Rory finds plenty of clues as to what the charismatic Socialist leader got up to onboard. In the Bay of Kotor they transfer to another military vessel, a naval sail training ship dating to 1931. With three masts and 21 sails, everything has to be done by hand. The trio are put to work alongside the cadets by the commander, but Griff gets stuck up the 150 foot mast as a storm comes in. Crossing the border, into the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, they discover that the city and its people remember the recent wars all too well. They continue up the coast on a mini cruise boat, MS Magellan, arriving at the Island of Korcula. Famed for its Moreska sword dance. When they have a go with the local troupe, Dara turns out to have a natural talent for the dance and ends up staging a performance for the local school and passing tourists. Next stop is the island of Viz, one of the most unspoilt islands on the coast. Because of its military importance it was closed to tourists until 1989. The three men have been entered into a cricket match with the local side against the MCC - the Munich Cricket Club. Dara's unconventional batting style is surprisingly successful.

The three men discover that travelling along the Adriatic out of season means that there are very few options to get to Venice by boat, so they attempt to blag a lift with a super yacht at the Split boat show. The only problem is that they will have to wait until the show finishes to find out if they're successful. In the meantime they get a lift with a tanker delivering drinking water to the outlying islands along the coast. Outside the Roman city of Pula Griff and Rory come across Europe's biggest nudist colony, and Griff can't resist having a go. Eventually the three men make it to Venice and are immediately thrown into Gondola practice ready for the race. A race down the Grand Canal is a big deal to the locals and they want to make sure the three men are good enough. Rory tries to make a suitable trophy for the race out of glass on the island of Murano, whilst Griff and Dara end up cooking with the last remaining fishing families in Venice. Griff's search for ingredients leads him to Venice's finest vegetable stall at the local women's prison. Whilst Dara's visit to the local fire station ends up in an emergency call on a fire boat.