Back again for a new six-part season airing on ITV Bradley Walsh and his son Barney head off on a trip across Europe as we bring you our Breaking Dad episode 1 review.
I absolutely love Bradley Walsh I think he’s hilarious but you can also see he’s a man that can get quickly riled up as shown on the Ant and Dec Saturday Night takeaway episode where the comedy duo hijacked his show The Chase.
Rather than an American road trip like the last season, it’s off on a European camper van journey very similar to the mechanics of Gordon, Gino and Fred but instead of food on the menu, it’s adrenaline junkie infused tasks influenced by the man who fears absolutely nothing, Barney Walsh.
Bradley on the other hand fears everything and that is what makes the show so magical.
You have a father and son travelling around the world and encouraging each other every step of the way and Barney is always there cheering his dad on to overcome his fears.
Bradley usually spends his holidays on the same old golden beaches of Portugal, so Barney wants to show him exactly what the rest of Europe has to offer, starting in The Netherlands and taking in Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia before finishing in Italy.
In the opening series teaser, there are some things that even I wouldn’t do including a death-defying bungee jump and the tallest free-standing climbing wall in the world named Excalibur.
With Bradley being petrified of heights I was absolutely in awe at how he overcame this obstacle let alone how he managed to get up the wall!
I’m definitely not fit myself.
With an ongoing condition that makes a flight of stairs feel like Everest at times, I went to a local treetop obstacle course and after 15 minutes I was swinging 30 feet up in the air so tired that I had no energy to even think about my fear of heights!
But shows like this and people overcoming fears and pushing through barriers in general is a huge motivator for me to at least give it ago and after a little rest bite I managed the rest of the course and whilst it would be easy to just about everyone else that day it was a monumental task for me and that meant the world.
In our first episode, we see Bradley and Barney attempt three tasks and they are as follows:
Canal Jumping
Running towards a vaulting pole, claiming up the pole and hitting the other side of the canal is no easy task but Barney smashed it the first time he did it unless it was heavily edited, but let’s just go with his first time for now.
After the pros showed their insane skills on a full-sized canal the duo was given a considerable downgraded to the baby canal but it still wasn’t easy as we hilariously saw Bradley face down in the water not once, but twice.
With the episode only being around 20 minutes or so in length (accounting for the adverts in-between) it absolutely flies by but they manage to cram quite a lot into this particular segment.
Velodrome Track Cycling
In order to get everything crammed into the timeframe, this is the one segment of the episode that felt a little rushed as a world champion cyclist took the pair around the velodrome followed by a race at the end.
Naturally, we didn’t see them go any higher than the bottom of the track and it all felt a bit rushed.
At least there was enough time for a very cheesy slow-mo as Bradley was trying his utmost best not to burst out of that lycra!
World’s Tallest Freestanding Climbing Wall
With this being the most challenging of the tasks they’ve attempted so far it got the most airtime.
I really felt for Brad during this one and the suspense and tension was palpable.
Bradley was absolutely dreading it but he was being rooted on every step of the way by his son and you could tell it was having an effect on Brad, motivating him to the top of the climbing wall summit.
I’m sure there was plenty of censored strong language footage that was cut from the final edit to make a spin-off series of cockney cursing but this end segment was really done well and the show ended on a really nice end note of father and son bonding.
Overall
With a little segment in a wooden shoe shop to fill the gap along with a little cycle around the Netherlands, the episode had come to a conclusion.
Whilst not as overtly funny as Gordon, Gino and Fred this particular show has heart and that father and son bond that strengthens each and every time they do these crazy, crazy episodes together.
With how that teaser trailer looked, this certainly felt like a teaser episode as there are plenty more crazy things to come and I’m ready for it!
But don’t take just my word for it, here’s what Bradley and Barney had to say about what we can expect from future episodes:
Brad:
“Meeting world champions, here’s the great thing, then me having to do what they do. That is all you have got to go with it. Setting me up with world champions and me having to do what they do. Now there is a guy who drives a boat….. “
Barney:
“Ah, wait till you see that.”
Brad:
“You won’t believe it, he drives this boat right, on the water, it is Formula One, but on water.
I’m not joking, he turns and when you turn a boat, its not like turning a Formula One car, when you turn a boat it is like you are skidding across and bricking it.
Honestly, I think you are doing like a hundred and seventy kilometres per hour on the water of this river that was laden with logs and shrapnel because there had been a hurricane. It was nerve-jangling stuff.”
Breaking Dad episode 1 review by Sean Evans
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