Abstract

In episode two of the cinematic-televisual hybrid The Trip, which has been released to various markets in diverse formats, providing different selections from core content, the protagonists discuss restaurant taster menus, one of which they are about to experience. This essay both utilises established approaches in television studies and examines developments in film and book marketing over two decades to explore how The Trip and its sequel The Trip to Italy contribute to, exploit, and satirize associated developments in literary, cinematic, and televisual culture. It concludes that, at a time when each of these aspects of art and entertainment, and institutions behind them, face unprecedented pressure from technological change, the series provide taster menus for BBC public service entertainment and educational output.