Ewan McGregor (yes, Obi-Wan Kenobi himself) ditches the lightsaber for a mud-caked BMW bike and tries to ride around the entire planet with his best friend Charley Boorman.
This is one of the best pure adventure docuseries I’ve seen. My colleague Rob Kelly ranked it #3 on his best motorcycle documentaries list.
Trailer for “Long Way Round”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Their BMW bikes were marketed as “unstoppable”…until Siberia’s Road of Bones destroyed them so badly that Ewan’s bike frame literally snapped in half near Tynda. They had to hitch a ride on a random truck just to get it welded.
- What starts as a macho adventure turns deeply personal when they visit UNICEF projects. Ewan meets a young girl in Mongolia and later adopts her as his daughter, Jamyan.
Watch “Long Way Round”
You can watch “Long Way Round” on Apple TV.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 96/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86/100 (Users); 100/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Directed by David Alexanian and Russ Malkin, who also ride along and document everything. This isn’t a polished travel show. It feels raw, messy, and real because the crew is struggling just as much as the riders.
Release Date: October 18, 2004
Other Unique Stuff
- They rode ~19,000 miles across 12 countries and 19 time zones in just over 3 months. They had no support caravans, just two guys and a small crew leapfrogging ahead.
- Early 2000s tech fails constantly. Their satellite phones and GPS regularly cut out, leaving them truly isolated in places where help could be days away.
- Cameraman Claudio von Planta is riding a third bike through the same chaos, crashing, fixing gear, and somehow capturing the most raw footage of the trip.
- The route includes Siberia’s “Road of Bones,” where the road itself is built on the bodies of Gulag prisoners—a detail that adds a dark historical layer most travel docs completely ignore.
Wrap Up:
“Long Way Round” is the gold standard for adventure docs. It’s raw, unpredictable, and way harder than it looks. If you’ve ever dreamed about quitting everything and hitting the road, this one might inspire you.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc