Michael Palin likens living under ‘strict government control’ during lockdown in the UK to the North Korean regime in a recorded a message ahead of the broadcast of his 2018 documentary about the secretive nation tonight.
The actor, 77, said his travelogue about the surveillance state has a ‘certain relevance’ now given the current restrictions on Britons to curb the spread of Covid-19.
An extended version of Michael Palin in North Korea, filmed two years ago, airs on Channel 5 this evening at 9pm, featuring bonus footage from his time in the country.
Commenting on the current situation in North Korea, Palin said he regrets that little diplomatic progress appears to have been made – but added that he would like to return to the country to see if he had ‘earned their trust’ and would be welcomed.
Speaking from his house in North London, Michael Palin, 77, compared the current lockdown in place across the UK with living in North Korea in a clip shared ahead of tonight’s transmission on Channel 5 of his documentary about the secretive country
Speaking about the UK’s lockdown, Palin said it’s a ‘very strange time’.
‘That’s been said many times, it’s one of the clichés along with words like “draconian” and “catastrophic” and “ramping up” that we hear a lot of these days,’ he went on.
‘I feel there’s a certain relevance to my experiences in North Korea. We are, extraordinarily enough, under strict control from the government.’
He added that he wants to ‘get back, I suppose, to the freedom of working where I want to work, I want the freedom to travel, freedom to meet friends, to hug my grandchildren and my children and anybody else who wants to be hugged by me’.
‘But this is not going to happen very soon,’ he conceded. ‘So I’m having to learn to work in a different way. I work from home anyways, so I can write, I can look at maps and I can prepare for what I hope will be a promising future.’
Palin, standing next to a propaganda poster in North Korea, said he wanted to go back to the freedom of working where he wanted and hugging his grandchildren
Calling the current lockdown ‘strange and ‘draconian’, Palin, pictured standing next to a North Korean monument, said he’s had to adapt to the current restrictions
Palin told how it was ‘two years to the day I was celebrating my 75 birthday in a field in North Korea’.
Speaking about his experience in the country, he said he regrets that the political climate around North Korea has not changed a great deal – despite feeling there was a ‘thaw beginning’ in its relations with the West two years ago.
His arrival had coincided with the historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and South Korean president Moon Jae-In.
Michael Palin in North Korea saw the actor travel through the mysterious Asian country, led by the inflexible dictator Kim Jong-un.
He and a camera crew were granted unprecedented access to the country in order to witness the way of life led by its inhabitants.
Reflecting on his 2018 visit, Palin – pictured standing next to a North Korean official – said there were still many things he didn’t know about the mysterious country
Speaking of his experience in the country, Palin said he regrets that the political climate within North Korea has not changed much, but claimed he wishes to visit the country again one day to see if he is welcomed. Pictured standing next to a North Korean propaganda poster
He remarked at the time that he was only allowed to witness certain things, but did not deem the people to be brainwashed.
Speaking of the documentary in 2018, Palin told The Mail on Sunday that the trip had been tightly controlled, with five or six minders watching their every move and limiting where they could go and what they could see.
‘They weren’t at all heavy-handed. They were from the tourism ministry, but had orders about what we could and couldn’t see,’ he said.
His passport was also taken from him. He added: ‘We were kept the slightest bit unsettled, and probably deliberately.’
Michael Palin in North Korea airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 5. The series is also available on My5.tv