TO BE BROADCAST AS FOLLOWS:

22nd April , 2010      -   Rome

29th April, 2010       -   Sydney

6th May, 2010          -    Hong Kong

The Greatest Cities of the World follows popular presenter and comedian Griff Rhys Jones as he explores some of the most spectacular metropolises in the world. Griff is on a mission to find out what makes each of the cities unique and remarkable. During a typical day in the life of each city, he leads us on a journey of discovery and of extraordinary surprises.

ROME

The eternal city may be more than 2,500 years old but Griff has just 24 hours to discover how 2.5 million people live in what is effectively the world’s largest museum. He discovers it’s still possible to learn how Michelangelo carved marble; he eats offal and milks goats like a Roman peasant and he tries (and fails) to be as silent as the contemplative nuns of SS Quattro Coronati.

Out and about in the modern city, he learns how to direct traffic in the middle of one of the busiest road intersections in Europe; he lands an audience with the Mayor who explains how to run the city without getting assassinated, and helps the Madonna take her spectacular annual trip down the Tiber to be received by her adoring masses in the ancient city centre.

SYDNEY

In this episode Griff visits the city down under that's at the edge of the world: Sydney, Australia. Having begun life as a penal colony, Sydney is now regarded as one of the most desirable places in the world to live. Griff discovers how this city has gone from hell to paradise in the last 200 years.

But however heavenly this city on the beach appears to be on the surface, it’s still struggling not only with its colonial past but also with being a small outpost in the midst of a vast, wild country.

Griff saves a swimmer from a possible shark attack, helps rid the city from a plague of bats and then goes to cool off at Bondi beach, observing a peculiar local custom by jumping into an ice-filled swimming pool.

HONG KONG

Hong Kong is a city of contradictions: a mix of the ancient and modern, East and West, where consumerism and spiritualism live side by side.

Griff’s curiosity leads him to an exotic fish shop that opens in the middle of the night to cater for a wealthy businessman’s obsession; he learns about the 3,000 year old Chinese hobby of bird fancying by helping run a stall at a bird market, and he discovers that Britain’s colonial influence lives on in the shape of a thriving Boy Scout Movement, which boasts over 100,000 members.

In Hong Kong schoolchildren are under immense pressure to do well and Griff joins a class who are being taught a unique method of mental arithmetic.

Hong Kong is also a consumer-driven city, with the highest percentage of millionaires per square mile in the world, the highest ownership of Rolls Royce’s per capita and the most users of mobile phones on the planet. And in Hong Kong you can take your wealth with you when you die, as Griff discovers when he visits a supermarket selling perfect paper replicas of hundreds of items ranging from umbrellas, cakes, cognac and even Pot Noodles, that are burnt as offerings to departed loved ones.