Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are back with a new Long Way TV series which sees the intrepid duo return to screens with a new twist.
Following the success of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire-powered Long Way Up which streamed exclusively on Apple TV (which is also where you can stream the original Long Way Round and Long Way Down series) Apple TV+ has announced an all-new 10-episode season of the epic motorcycle adventure series starring and executive produced by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, which is set to reunite the duo for their next great motorbike tour, this time a little closer to home.
“On a rather tricky, sandy bit of ‘Long Way Up,’ Charley and I started to daydream about another trip to keep our minds off the scary road at hand!” said Ewan McGregor. “This is that trip. Rusty old bikes and 10,000 miles of Scandinavia, and Eastern and Central Europe. A big loop from my house in Scotland to Charley’s house in England. Long way home … magic.”
“It has been such a pleasure to get back on the road on motorcycles with my best friend Ewan,” said Charley Boorman.
“We’ve talked about doing this trip on old bikes since the last one. Travelling around Scandinavia and Europe has been a blast on our beautiful bikes.”
Ewan and Charley’s adventures have received praise from both critics and fans alike, as “Long Way Up” quickly achieved a perfect 100 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes following its global premiere. The series has been hailed as an “entertaining and highly enjoyable” ride, sure to “please fans looking for adventure,” and was honoured with three Emmy Award nominations in 2021, including Outstanding Travel, Adventure and Nature Program; Outstanding Sound Mixing and Editing; and Outstanding Multiple Camera Editing.
The new season follows Ewan and Charley as they ride lovingly refurbished vintage motorbikes from Ewan’s home in Scotland to Charley’s in England — but rather than take the shortest route, they go the long way! They head across the North Sea to Scandinavia, all the way up to the Arctic Circle and then down to the Baltics and through continental Europe, before eventually hopping back over the English Channel two months later.
It’s an adventure that will take them to more than fifteen countries, through spectacular scenery and along some of the greatest driving roads in the world. Along the way they’ll immerse themselves in each country’s culture, meet the locals and try their hand at unique and eclectic activities.
The series is executive produced by McGregor and Boorman, alongside longtime collaborators David Alexanian and Russ Malkin, who also direct.
It's fair to say that while not all motorcyclists love the Long Way series, the impact it has had upon motorcycling has been largely positive with the original series helping to grow the adventure scene in particular into the juggernaut it is today.
With McGregor and Boorman taking a completely different approach with their bikes of choice once again, time will tell if the latest Long Way series (which our head cannon is calling "Long Way Home" based on McGregor's comments) helps bring classic and modern classic motorcycles back into the forefront of motorcycling culture.
Currently, a release date is yet to be announced by Apple TV+ with the series' official title also to be confirmed ( our vote obviously goes to Long Way Home). If you're not familiar with the Long Way series you can catch up on all three iterations - Long Way Round, Long Way Down and Long Way Up - by streaming them on Apple TV+.