Joanna Lumley’s Danube Adventure: A Journey Along Europe’s Mightiest River
Renowned actress Joanna Lumley has embarked on a rip-roaring adventure across the heart of Europe, following the Danube, the most international river in the world. The Danube flows through 10 different countries and has formed boundaries, been a waterway edged to different countries, and was so central to all of our history, going right back to the Roman days. From source to sea, Joanna tracked the river from its origins beneath the pines of Germany’s Black Forest all the way to the Black Sea.
According to ITV’s press pack, Joanna started her journey in Germany’s Black Forest, where the Danube is just a trickle. At the source of the river, Joanna admired the statue of Danuvius, an ancient Roman river god, who is keeping guard. "This is the river that has carried goods and people up and down it," Joanna said. "It’s had wars fought over it. It’s created boundaries. And to be here, at the beginning of its journey, it’s just completely dazzling."
As Joanna travels through Germany, she visits the birthplace of the cuckoo clock before travelling through some of the country’s most beautiful scenery, including the stunning Danube Gorge in Bavaria. Along the way, she meets many memorable characters, including a beer-brewing nun and the first ever group of gay lederhosen-clad folk dancers. In Austria, Joanna discovers the beauty and tastes of the Wachau wine valley and, in Vienna, fulfils a lifelong dream to visit the Vienna Boys Choir.
Joanna’s adventure continues as she travels into Eastern Europe and the landlocked countries of Slovakia and Hungary. In Slovakia, Joanna traces Danube tributaries up to the top of some of Europe’s most dramatic mountains, the snow-capped Tatras. In Budapest, she explores the river by boat and rides a unique children’s railway, as well as discovering the city’s Jewish heritage. Out on the Great Hungarian Plain, Joanna investigates work that’s been done to clean up plastic river pollution and meets the last Ciskós, Hungary’s unforgettable cowboys who demonstrate their incredible horsemanship.
The journey takes Joanna to Romania, where she starts at the vast Iron Gates gorge and travels up into wild Transylvania. There, she follows the trails of brown bears in the forest and discovers the secret history of Dracula’s castle. After a night in a charming guest house owned by King Charles, Joanna heads towards the Danube Delta, one of the last great wilderness areas remaining in Europe, full of birdlife including the majestic Pelican. At the mouth of the river, on Romania’s Black Sea coast, Joanna bids farewell to the Danube and reflects on her amazing journey.
In an interview with ITV, Joanna says, "I couldn’t be more interested and in love with geography, and the world as a whole, but I was pretty thick about the Danube. I didn’t realise that it is Europe’s longest and most important river and that it went through 10 different countries and that, for centuries, for millenia, it’s formed boundaries, been a waterway edged to different countries and is central to all of our history, going right back to the Roman days. So that was a thrill."
Joanna also shares her experiences of meeting various people during her journey, including the Ledenhosen dancers, who were "so unbelievably touching." She also met a coven of witches who were also Romani travellers in Romania, who performed a ceremony on the Danube. "They are phenomenal women and I was involved in a ceremony on the Danube, it was rather like a Druid ceremony, where they look to north, south, east and west, earth, air, light, water, all these different qualities they summon up and make peace with and banish bad things, put light into the shadows to make the world a better place," Joanna said.
The series, Joanna Lumley’s Danube, starts on Friday 23 May 2025 at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX, STV & STV Player.
