Overland

With final preparations complete, the Overland team heads off through Austria, Czech Republic, and Poland. However, their arrival in Belarus, a Nation under the control of foreign powers throughout the 20th century, is not without problems. In Minsk, they witness first-hand the repression of a protest and leave for Ukraine where thanks to the UNHCR they enter the volatile red zone.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) accompanies the Overland team along a circuitous route used by heavy military vehicles. In Stanytsia Luhansk where war is being waged on a daily basis, they meet locals, before continuing through the harsh Russian winter to Moscow. Here they visit the city's imposing military monuments, then head to the Caspian Sea to meet local Cossacks.

With the good Russian roads behind them, the Overland team enters the Asian Continent at oil-rich Kazakhstan. Here the dramatic lunar landscape and a meal with locals offer a completely new and surprising vision of the country. Then it's onto Uzbekistan, the second-largest cotton producer in the world where they see first-hand the results of the man-made environmental disaster - the Aral Sea.

Continuing along the Silk Road, the Overland team drive through a desert sandstorm to reach Bukhara. With its towering Kalon minaret built in 1127, it's the tallest building in Central Asia. Now into the heart of their journey, they visit the ancient city of Samarkand. Then when they enter Afghanistan, in Mazar-i Sharif, their first stop more than 250 soldiers are killed in a Taliban attack.

Overland travels to the heart of the spectacular Panjshir Valley, surrounded by snow-capped peaks and unspoiled nature. They join a very strict and conservative Islamic community for the night and are surprised by the medieval conditions the women are forced to live in. In Kabul, they look at the economic and social conditions of family life when they visit a woman bringing up her three daughters.

Overland reaches Bamiyan Valley home to the famous Buddhas that were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Here a survivor gives a harrowing account of their demise. Moving on they visit the spectacular Band-e-Amir Lakes, and their return to Kabul is not without its problems due to terrorist activity in the area so they are assigned an armed escort for safe passage. But things are worse in Kabul.

The team has been in Afghanistan for a month but bureaucratic delays, the lack of Pakistani visas and the continual terrorist attacks in Kabul forces the expedition to put an escape plan into operation. Flying to Herat the team awaits their vehicles which are being smuggled overland. Once reunited, Overland is safely escorted by Italian helicopters out of Afghanistan and into Iran.

Dunes and expanses of sand as far as the eye can see: the Dasht-e Kavir desert is the right place to have some fun with the vehicles and here the Overland drivers put their driving skills to the test. Traveling across Iran through the cities of Yazd, Shiraz, and Isfahan they meet locals and explore ancient traditions.

Overland quickly travels through the delicate area that houses Iran's nuclear plants where filming is forbidden. They continue through Iran as they head for Turkey, visiting Istanbul and exploring the caves of Cappadocia. Heading west they travel through the Balkans and then they are home - back in Italy where they started. 30,000 kilometres in three months.

This television travel diary is narrated by Beppe and Filippo Tenti, one of the best-loved father and son duos in television history. Together they engage the audience and invite them onboard their orange vehicles, for a fascinating succession of discoveries, wonders, and also difficulties and dangers. Traveling in convoy, the Overland team travel 30,000 kilometres in three months.