A huge thanks to Channel 4 for sending me this episode over early as I bring you all my One Night in Alton Towers review.
Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe extend their very popular One Night In show from last Christmas with a brand new 5 episode series.
These brand new episodes will see the pair joined by guests in each show as they spend the night at some of the UK’s most exciting attractions with no other visitors around.
The pair kick off the series with a nights stay at the UK’s biggest theme park, Alton Towers.
Other episodes will see them visiting LEGOLAND, The Natural History Museum and London Zoo.
Ruth Phillips, Exec Producer, Zeppotron said about the new season:
We can’t wait to let Alex, Josh and friends loose in some thoroughly exciting but empty, iconic locations, allowing them to roam free and muck about through the wee small hours without grown-ups interfering.
It promises to be a gleeful, escapist and above all funny show as the cast become the equivalent of mischievous kids in a sweet shop, who’ve overdone the sherbert dip dabs.
Not being an avid TV conisseiuer myself I was at a loss when it came to knowing who the stars of the show were. That’s on me, so I do apologise. But this is a movie page after all and not a TV review website.
Regardless of that fact, over the next few episodes I’ll be joining the pair on a journey through attractions I’ve graced many a time as part of our own attractions channel / Vlogging journey over on Lift Hills and Thrills.
This whole road trip celebrity concept has absolutely taken TV stations by storm since the success of shows like Gordon, Gino and Fred over on ITV have had everyone chomping at the bit to replicate the magic of that rather endearing show.
Channel 4 are very familiar, not only with buddy road trip shows but also Alton Towers as their last show Inside Alton Towers was a riveting if albeit lacking look inside the theme park over the lockdown period.
With two comedians (and a special guest) at the helm I knew I was in good hands and One Night In Alton Towers certainly didn’t disappoint!
Our special guest for episode 1 is actress, comedian and writer Roisin Conaty (another name I’m not wholly familiar with) as the trio head into Alton Towers with no guests around.
The group head into the park at 6pm which is when the general public will have vacated the park. Alton Towers kept all of the rides open just for these three and that’s an absolute dream for many of us although if you head to the park just after the summer school holidays you can experience your very own abandoned theme park experience (or close enough).
During our recent trip to Lightopia, a brand new light and lantern walkthrough experience at the park over the holiday season was abandoned entirely when we visited. It was just after a big storm and we were the last to enter the park in the evening and had the whole walkthrough experience to ourselves.
Absolutely not the same as having the entire park (and rides) to ourselves but the magic of an experience like that alone is truly special for anyone of any age.
What did make me laugh very early on in the show was the fact that the narrator of the show said that everyone including all members of staff had left to go home and then in the following clip all three of them are on numerous rides at the park having a ball.
Who’s operating the coasters then narrator? Bloody Casper the friendly ride operator?!
With some sneaky editing to eliminate any footage of staff members checking their harnesss or showing any other humans of any kind in the theme park, the ride begins… magically… on its own.
No wait!
Our first glimpse of ride operator Lee as he hits the button on the ride to get Oblivion on its way and off they go.
Not really on their own in Alton Towers now though are they?
Wink wink, nudge nudge.
Without the ride footage though the show would have been a little mundane so with my pettiness aside One Night in Alton Towers has heaps of friendly banter and you can see the great friendship that they all share. The on-ride footage is great to witness and the editing of the show is very choppy and engaging.
It’s not just rides the group take part in, arcade games, driving buggy’s around the park and just getting up to mischief is the story of the show and it’s a great laugh.
Now it’s not just a simple ‘stay overnight’ format, the show keeps things fresh by adding challenges into the mix for our three stars to undertake.
Such challenges included:
*Riding Rita without screaming
*Singing songs on Spinball Whizzer
*Eating Ice Cream inside a heater
And the most important challenge of them all, getting Roisin to jump on just about any ride in the park.
One thing they did get spot on during their overnight stay was just how vile those Rollover Hot Dogs are. Absolutely awful they are!
Food across the park at Alton Towers is as vile as any other theme park food up and down the country.
Is it even a trip to a theme park unless you’ve had an awful meal?
Whilst I wish to have stern words with whoever thought of those god awful challenges I felt the show breezed through effortlessly regardless of the challenges and was a fun watch.
Oblivion, Spinball, Rita and Wicker Man were all on display which is a great advert for the park and whilst I feel as though there was much more they could have done within the episode they stayed until 3am in the morning (or thereabouts) and for me didn’t cram enough into the 10 hours+ they spent at the resort.
An incredible start to what looks to be a very promising series but with a resort like that at their disposal I think there was much more room to throw content in there to achieve even more comedic gold moments.
The direction of the show lands solely in the hands of the producers / director and not in the hands of our endearing stars and sadly that’s where the show (in parts) feels like a missed opportunity.
One Night in Alton Towers review by Sean Evans
Episode 2: One Night in The Natural History Museum Review
Find out more about the series HERE
Our Rating
Summary
A show that absolutely flies by and is a good laugh from start to finish. Full of hearty banter and three grown-ups living a childhood fantasy of having a theme park to themselves.
One Night in Alton Towers provides enough laughs and engagement to scrape on by but you can’t help but feel there was ALOT more that could be done with the opportunity they were given.
