Ewan McGregor goes a 'Long Way Down'

Long Way Down
9 p.m. Saturdays
Fox Reality Channel

An 85-day, 15,000-mile motorcycle trip from the village of John O’Groats, at the northern tip of Scotland, to Capetown, South Africa: What could be more fun? I don’t know — how about radical reconstructive surgery?

Ah, but actor Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charley Boorman don’t feel that way. The pair, who rode their motorcycles around the world from London to New York in 2004 for the television series “Long Way Round” head out on the highway (and the dirt roads) again for “Long Way Down,” a potentially dangerous adventure that I imagine will be better to watch than to actually experience.

But for them, the idea of riding across Africa — the “last mad place in the world,” as Boorman calls it — is too tempting to resist. So with a camera crew in tow, McGregor (who’s played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the last three “Star Wars” films) and pal hit the road.

Judging from the highlights shown at the end of episode one, they appear to have experienced all the joys they expected — the pyramids, elephants and zebras all up close — as well as some of the hardships that come with riding into and over hostile terrain.

But that’s all in future episodes. This week’s premiere condenses six months of prep time, which includes training for what to do if they’re kidnapped, dealing with injuries and illnesses that nearly sidetrack the trip, practicing building campsites, planning the route, getting visas and so on. Oh, and McGregor’s wife decides she wants to ride with them for a couple of weeks, although she’s never ridden a motorcycle.

It’s what writers call BBI (boring but important), and you want to yell, “Just get on the bikes already!” But then you’d spend the rest of the series wondering how they got ready. So episode one is a necessary evil.

But down the road, so to speak, “Long Way Down” could be a keeper. The scenery alone is worth riding along (albeit on the couch), and McGregor and Boorman are a fun, not-so-serious pair whose easy give-and-take on topics like riding and who’s better at camping makes you want to spend time looking in on their journey. And if that isn’t inducement, well, their ride raised more than $1 million for charity.