Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes have reunited for an epic adventure in France - but their trips have sometimes taken surprising turns, with Neil once finding himself surrounded by half-naked women.
In a new three-part series titled Neil & Martin's Bon Voyage, the Men Behaving Badly stars celebrate 40 years of friendship and explore some of France's most picturesque locations, including the Dordogne River, the vineyards of Bordeaux, and the soaring Pyrenees peaks.
They'll be embarking on exciting escapades throughout their travels - encountering the iconic white horses of the Camargue, attempting to channel Van Gogh's artistic spirit in Arles, and sipping drinks atop Europe's largest sand dune.
But for Neil Morrissey, the highlight isn't just the sights – it's about spending quality time with Martin Clunes, his long-time pal. He reminisced about their heady rise to fame in the 90s, saying: "Fame came so quickly it was like being shot out of a cannon."
Meanwhile, Martin relished the extended quality time they had together on this trip. Martin reflects, "The best thing about this trip was we were given licence to hang out together for three weeks," noting how their past meet-ups were always far too brief. "In the past, we've seen each other for a meal or a weekend here, weekend there. To be brought together was just great."
Neil and Martin are no strangers to touring together, having embarked on an adventure before the 2000 Olympics in Australia, following the path of the Olympic torch.
Neil recalls a cheeky moment to Martin: "You checked out the brothel! And I checked out, well I daren't even say it in case I get prosecuted, but I went to a bar one evening where when a pint glass got full of coins the ladies took their tops off!" Martin chuckles at the memory, adding, "Skimpies? Skimpies is still going! We went on some capers."
Yet, their most cherished experiences from the recent tour were far more wholesome. Martin reflects, "The sunset was nice but it was a bit mosquito-y," and shares that "Going fishing was great."
The origins of their friendship trace back to backstage at a Peter Pan production in Bristol. It was the early '80s; Neil played a pirate, while Martin visited a friend in the lead role.
Back then, Neil was already gracing our TV screens as Rocky in ITV's drama Boon. Looking back, Neil muses, "We got it together and there were certain haunts, and our careers were on a similar sort of pathway.."
Martin begs to differ, interrupting, "No they weren't! You were hugely successful, you were in Boon, you had a mobile phone and your own Volkswagen Golf."
By 1992, the boys had become close friends and secured roles together in Men Behaving Badly, where they played the lovable lads Gary and Tony alongside Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash as their on-screen love interests, Dorothy and Deborah.
The U&Gold series sees Neil and Martin revisiting their fondness for a tipple. The very first episode features them savouring a drink atop a sand dune, and later, Martin presents Neil with an already opened bottle of booze at his home in France, jesting, "I got thirsty in the night."
Yet, 63 year old Martin quips that it's the editors who are responsible for portraying them as enjoying more drink than sightseeing. He queries with mock innocence, "Is there a lot of us drinking in it?" before laughing, "Well they've done that on purpose!".
Neil even jokes that they toasted so often, they could easily put together a fourth episode from those moments alone, noting, "You could get an hour of the amount of times we press glasses.."
Back in the '90s, both actors were mainstays of London's glittering showbiz community. Nowadays, Martin has settled down in Dorset with his wife Philippa Braithwaite, while Neil enjoys the tranquil life in France with his partner Emma Killick, a lawyer.
Neil gushed about his French retreat, "Em and I have had a place here now for nearly 20 years, and you can probably see it's a humble little old farmer's cottage dating back to 1790 so it's absolutely beautiful. You don't get disturbed. Old ladies elbow me out of the way of the prize onions in the market!"
Martin shared his love for France too, although he cheekily confessed that when it comes to speaking the language, he prefers a more direct approach: "The trick with Johnny Frenchman is to just shout English louder at them and they pretty much buck up. They know what we're saying. They're just being bloody minded with their own language."
The series is peppered with their classic jokes, and Martin doesn't miss a beat, making a playful comment as he sips on white Semillon wine: "I've got a bit of a semi on."
While their 90s wit is still intact, they acknowledge that a show like Men Behaving Badly wouldn't make the cut in today's more sensitive TV landscape.
On the show, Neil commented, "Tony and Gary were misogynistic ne'er-do-wells but we kind of captured the zeitgeist because there was a lot of talk about laddism and we were given that title of 'the lads' of the era. You couldn't get away with making Men Behaving Badly now."
However, Neil insists the show never intended to be sexist or misogynistic. "If you said misogyny to either Tony or Gary, they'd have probably thought it was a Polish sausage," Neil quipped.
"Or a star sign!" Martin chimed in with a laugh. "They are totally in awe of women and blown away by them and worshipped them in an inappropriate way."
- Neil & Martin’s Bon Voyage, U&Gold, March 25, 9pm.
