A passage to India

Presenter Alexander Armstrong journeys around India for a new three-part travel series

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Alexander Armstrong embarked on a journey around India for his latest travelogue, Alexander Armstrong In India, and noticed many huge changes since the last time he visited the country almost 35 years ago.

"The change over that period is pretty substantial," says the 55-year-old. "The first thing you notice is the trickle-down of India's new wealth. One person we spoke to said India's already lifted 400 million people out of poverty. Another 400 million remain below the poverty line, but that's an extraordinary leap forward. And you can tell."

One of the first places Alexander visited for the three-part series was the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, which is unaffected by India's emergence as a global superpower and has not changed in hundreds of years. "There's a kind of open sewer that runs through the middle of it so the smell can get quite fruity at times. Also, huge rats everywhere," he says. "After less than an hour, though, you've acclimatised to the smell and you don't blink when you see the 40th rat scamper past your feet. They become like squirrels with less showbiz tails perhaps."

The Pointless host and actor describes Dharavi as "as warm, friendly and human a place as I've ever been".