The documentary-maker Roger Mills, who has died aged 86 after suffering from Parkinson’s disease, accompanied the actor Michael Palin on his globe-trotting adventures for almost 20 years and helped to establish the template for celebrity travel series. Palin called his director, an Oxford classicist, “the Professor”.
Viewers enjoyed the natural situations Palin found himself in, as he brought his humour, inquiring mind and sense of excitement to the places and challenges he experienced, as well as displaying the awkwardness of travellers confronted by new cultures and people.
