Toughest Place to be a...

Toughest Place To Be A... is a BBC Two television documentary which offered various working or retired professionals in the United Kingdom a different and more challenging working environment in the same profession they worked in.[1] These individuals travel to a foreign country to learn and work under the new environment for ten days. First broadcast in February 2011, a total of fifteen episodes were produced since. In the United States the programme is aired on Al Jazeera America.

Toughest Place to be a...
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series4
No. of episodes15
Production
ProducerSimon Davies
Running time60 mins
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
BBC HD
ReleaseFebruary 13, 2011 (2011-02-13) –
April 21, 2013 (2013-04-21)

Episodes edit

Series 1 edit

Episode No. Airdate Title Location Total viewers Weekly channel ranking
1 13 February 2011 Toughest Place to be a Paramedic Guatemala City, Guatemala 2.16m 16
2 20 February 2011 Toughest Place to be a Bus Driver Manila, Philippines 2.06m 17
3 27 February 2011 Toughest Place to be a Midwife Monrovia, Liberia 1.79m 26

Series 2 edit

Episode No. Airdate Title Location Total viewers Weekly channel ranking
1 29 January 2012 Toughest Place to be a Bin Man Jakarta, Indonesia 2.68m 4
2 5 February 2012 Toughest Place to be a Fisherman Mania, Sierra Leone 2.02m 21
3 12 February 2012 Toughest Place to be a Train Driver Cerro de Pasco, Peru 2.86m 4

Series 3 edit

Episode No. Airdate Title Location Total viewers Weekly channel ranking
1 19 August 2012 Toughest Place to be a Miner Mongolia 1.56m 18
2 26 August 2012 Toughest Place to be a Ferryman Dhaka, Bangladesh Under 1.39m Outside top 30
3 2 September 2012 Toughest Place to be a Nurse Ciudad Juárez, Mexico 1.64m 14

Series 4 edit

Episode No. Airdate Title Location Total viewers Weekly channel ranking
1 10 March 2013 Toughest Place to be a Taxi Driver Mumbai, India 2.02m 9
2 17 March 2013 Toughest Place to be a Farmer Kenya 1.38m 22
3 24 March 2013 Toughest Place to be a Firefighter Brazil Under 1.22m Outside top 30

The Return edit

The workers from the first two series return to the countries that challenged them, revisiting the hosts that accommodated them and testing the skills they learned from their past experiences.

Episode No. Airdate Title Location Total viewers Weekly channel ranking
1 31 March 2013 Toughest Place to be a Bus Driver Manila, Philippines 1.19m 27
2 7 April 2013 Toughest Place to be a Fisherman Mania, Sierra Leone 1.22m 25
3 21 April 2013 Toughest Place to be a Bin Man Jakarta, Indonesia 1.73m 12

Response edit

In the episodes, the plight of the difficult situation faced by the hosts (who housed and gave on-job training to the British professional) in the foreign countries can be noticed. For the case of fishing, the episode's broadcast has led to a supportive response from the UK fishing industry and the setting up of a fundraising charity for fishing communities in Sierra Leone.[2] Joshua West's experience with Rogelio Castro, a jeepney driver whom he stayed with in Manila, led to him starting a charity effort to provide for the education of Castro's grandchildren as well as other impoverished children in the city.[3][4]

References edit

  1. ^ Wollaston, Sam (5 February 2012). "TV review: Toughest Place to Be a … Fisherman; Being Human; The Cricklewood Greats". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  2. ^ "'Phenomenal' response to fisherman's TV challenge". Cornish Guardian. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  3. ^ "Joshua West's quest to educate Manila's street children - part 2 - danceaid". Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  4. ^ "BBC Two - Toughest Place to be a..., The Return, Bus Driver, Eat Bulaga". BBC Online. Retrieved 6 May 2017.

External links edit