Karlinvestigateshowweshouldspendourlimitedtimeontheplanetashefindsoutwhathewillbelikeasanoldman.

A middle-aged man recently ditched by his long-term girlfriend, ‘Karl’ lives with his elderly Auntie and his closest companion is his doppelgänger alter ego.

Derek is a loyal nursing home caretaker who sees only the good in his quirky co-workers as they struggle against prejudice and shrinking budgets to care for their elderly residents.

Now Karl’s turned 40 and has officially hit middle age, it’s time for him to re-assess his life. He’s not married, he doesn’t have kids, he’s got a job where he’s known as an ‘idiot’, and he’s known for being miserable. He’s classic ‘mid-life crisis’ material. As Karl attempts to put his life in order, he’ll be dispatched around the world on a crash course to find out how other cultures deal with life’s big questions. The ups and downs of Karl’s experiences will be contrasted against the beautiful geography of the countries he visits, captured on HD with stunning aerial photography.

An Idiot Abroad is a British travel documentary television series broadcast on Sky1 and Science, as well as spin-off books published by Canongate Books, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Karl Pilkington. The ongoing theme of both the television series and the books is that Pilkington has no interest in global travel, so Merchant and Gervais make him travel while they stay in the United Kingdom and monitor his progress.