Joanna Lumley and The Human Swan
The Outlaws
Everyone wants to save our world. If Ab Fab’s Patsy, her eco-doc proved anything it was that we aren’t doing things the right way.
Unwieldy, underpowered and inefficient, the electric motor that powered flying adventurer Sacha Dench’s paraglider looked worse than useless — a terrible advert for alternative energy sources.
That has nothing whatsoever to do with the devastation. Joanna Lumley and The Human Swan (ITV).. Sacha was seriously injured during a mid-air collision which killed Dan Burton, her cameraman as September came to an end.
Joanna looked glum as she shared the news with the camera. The documentary aired in conjunction with the COP26 UN climate negotiations in Glasgow this week. She admitted that her first instinct when she heard about Dan’s death was to cancel the film. Instead, she showed it as a tribute for Dan’s dedication at the request of his family.

Ab Fab’s Patsy (her eco-doc) proved that we’re not going to save the world the right way.
The hour-long program was dominated by the shadow of the disaster. We seemed to see the tragedy in advance every time Sacha struggled to take-off or made an emergency landing.
The green campaigner — dubbed the Human Swan after she joined endangered Bewick swans on their migration from Russia to the UK — was attempting this time to fly right around the British Isles as part of the pioneering Round Britain Climate Challenge.
Her electric motor kept cutting out, and she was on the verge of falling to the ground. Joanna sighed, looking through her fingers as Sacha tried to keep her aloft.
The propeller engine attached to her back looked like a huge office fan. It weighed a crippling $35k (77lb, or five and a half stone). The battery, which lasted just half an hour, was the majority of the engine.
A van had to drive her along the road, bringing power packs every 30 miles. Joanna grunted, “I can’t pick up the battery, it’s heavy,”
She didn’t even try to explain how this technology would replace fossil fuel in aeroplanes.

Paraglider pilot Dan Burton died tragically in a crash near Unapool, Scotland Highlands.
It’s not only impractical for aircraft. What about heavy machinery, diggers, and other equipment used on construction sites? Those things need to run all day — and they can’t stop every hour for another battery the size of a family car. What’s Bob the Builder going to do — plug his dumper truck into the mains?
No one disputes that the planet needs an alternative fuel to fossil fuels. Joanna didn’t question whether short-lived, cumbersome batteries were the solution, as she clearly lacked all the expertise.
The documentary was shot at such a high cost and did a good job summarizing some ecological problems along our coastline. It showed us how far we are from switching to battery power in Britain, but that is not the most important thing.
Joanna did make a pit stop in Bristol, as it seems to be an obligatory stop on all primetime programs this autumn. Showtrial, a new drama, is currently being set there. The Outlaws (BBC1)Comedy-drama about petty thieves doing community service by cleaning up an abandoned building.
The problem is that they are all not very likeable. Stephen Merchant plays Greg, a solicitor who is caught in a car with a prostitute. Eleanor Tomlinson, a social media junkie in every sense of the word, has a vicious temper and Christopher Walken, an alcoholic fraudster, talks like a Prohibition-era criminal gangster.
There isn’t much to the story. Last week, someone stole some money and hidden it. This week, a few other people found it. We are supposed to be drawn into the lives of the characters. But I’d rather avoid them all.