Tropic of Cancer 5/6 - Bangladesh to Burma
BBC2, Sunday 18 April 8:00pm - 9:00pm"Oh my God!" exclaims the usually cheery Simon Reeve over and over again, because this is about as far from picture-postcard travelogues like Joanna Lumley's Nile as you can get. Instead it's a depressing snapshot of hardship and poverty. Bangladeshi fishermen show how climate change is causing the River Padma to "eat" their land and livelihood; four-year-olds pick up bits of plastic in Dhaka's polluted streets or work in factory hellholes. But it's his covert visit to Burma - foreign journalists are banned by the military junta - that really gets the heart pounding. He hears terrible stories of how the forgotten Burmese people are terrorised - even a group giving free medical aid are in danger of being killed. "That was one of the most unsettling experiences of my life," says Reeve after scurrying back across the border.
VIDEO Plus+: 2673
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Simulcast on BBC HD at 10pm
Directed by: Dominic OzanneRadiotimes[
