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Richard E. Grant's Very Modern Odyssey (Channel 4)

Rating: Five stars out of five

How grand to think that, wherever you go in the world, there'll be an Englishman in elegant attire, clasping a book and bestowing his approving gaze upon the sights.

In Europe, that will be Michael Portillo, with his Bradshaw's railway guide, fedora and wardrobe in all the colours of a sweet shop.

Further afield, we'll meet the urbanely charming Michael Palin with his kit bag slung over one shoulder.

Following their lead, as he voyages around the Med on his Very Modern Odyssey, actor Richard E. Grant struck a pose on every street corner, to admire the architecture or declaim from Homer.

Everything he saw pleased him, especially the cathedral of the Knights of St John in the Maltese capital, Valletta. 'This is baroque on steroids,' he chirruped. 'It out–Sistines the Sistine chapel.'

The Caravaggio in one of the side chapels thrilled him. I can never see the appeal of this 17th–century artist — too sordid, a horror movie director born before his time — but his depiction of St John the Baptist's execution moved Richard almost to tears.

The actor, a life–long teetotaller (despite that rambunctious performance as a permanently sozzled thesp in Withnail And I), is a delightful travelling companion. He's arch, he's fascinated by history, he's unafraid to fool around and he's plainly out for a good time.

Richard E. Grant's Very Modern Odyssey is a four–part Channel 4 travel and history documentary series that follows actor Richard E. Grant as he retraces the ancient, legendary Mediterranean route of Odysseus from Homer's epic poem

Grant travels through Turkey, Malta, Sicily, Italy, Tunisia, Corfu, and Ithaca, tracking the 10–year voyage home from the Trojan War

He has an amusing turn of phrase, too. Malta looks as though 'the whole island has been dipped in honey'. Cheekily, he refers to the locals as Maltesers, so perhaps they've been dipped in chocolate.

Tucking into a dish of braised pigeon in butter, he went into ecstasies before asking the chef — a burly chap called Clint — to marry him.

Richard is a man who believes in dining well and travelling light. Wherever he went, from the ruins of ancient Troy to Queen Elizabeth's favourite Med hotel, the Phoenicia, he wore the same brown calfskin leather jacket.

This seems to have been from necessity, not choice. He told travel podcaster Tanya Rose recently that, since having his suitcases stolen in New York a couple of years ago, he has vowed never to fly with more than hand luggage.

Given how stingy airlines are these days with overhead locker space, he probably wasn't carrying much more than a change of undies and a toothbrush.

He also told the podcast that staying in hotels is, 'one of the sexiest things you can do, because you feel anonymous. There's room service and your bed is changed every day. You're divested of all responsibility.'

Certainly he appeared to be blissfully at ease wherever he went, though the show must have been shot on a tight schedule. The day after filming finished, he headed to Claudia Winkleman's Scottish castle to begin filming Celebrity Traitors.

If she has picked him to be one of her murderers, hiding that cloak in his hand luggage won't have been easy.