From SOURCE to SEA

DAME JOANNA LUMLEY on venturing through Europe via the River Danube

- HANNAH DAVIES

JOANNA LUMLEY'S DANUBE NEW FRIDAY, 9PM, ITV1 TRAVELOGUE (BOX SET, ITVX)

Dame Joanna Lumley is delighted to be embarking on an absolutely fabulous adventure along one of the most beautiful rivers in Europe for her latest ITV1 travelogue. Starting this week, three-part series Joanna Lumley's Danube follows the actor and presenter as she explores the 1,770-mile-long stretch of river from its source in Germany's Black Forest all the way to Romania, where it opens out into the Black Sea.

Here, Joanna, 79, guides us through her epic expedition...

This sounds like an exciting journey, Joanna! Which countries did you visit along the way?

I couldn't be more interested in geography and the world as a whole, but I didn't actually realise that the Danube went through 10 countries, so that was a thrill! It was wonderful to use the river as a guideline. We go to Germany, where the river rises, and then Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. We then go up to the Ukraine border to meet some Ukrainian refugees and back to the river again as she slips out into the Black Sea.