Bridlington’s Rosie Jones returns to her favourite Yorkshire haunts and enjoys fossil-hunting, crazy golf and a fish and chip supper.
In Trip Hazard: My Great British Adventure, Rosie sets off for an adventure in Britain, finding out what makes places tick and having some fun and laughs along the way.
She spent Yorkshire in lockdown with her parents, so a jaunt up the coast was an obvious itinerary.
‘It was nice, I was glad I was up here rather than in London.
‘We went to Whitby because I’m from Bridlington and that’s really where this idea started. I grew up in a little seaside town that I thought was absolutely rubbish and I couldn’t wait to leave. But coming back for lockdown, I appreciated it a lot more and I would take walks by the beach and go ‘it’s alright, this’.
READ MORE: 5 reasons why you should move to Whitby
‘So that was the starting point and then I really just wanted to find other places in Britain that people from there, like me, would go ‘Norwich is rubbish, Anglesey is boring’, so it was going to places you wouldn’t really expect to be fun and beautiful and just making the most of it,’ she laughs.
She is joined by her celeb pals along the way, including Joe Wilkinson in Whitby where they play crazy golf and eat chips. But he was initially reluctant to go searching for fossils, Rosie says.
‘That fossil scene sums up the whole series because Joe got there and was like ‘Where are we? Why have we got hammers? What are we doing?’ But we really got into it and when he found a fossil, he was genuinely so pleased and so happy. Finding something millions of years old in this country just on the beach, he really got into it. Secretly, I was so pissed off, I wanted to find it, not him! It’s my show!'
READ MORE: Top tips for fossil hunters on the Yorkshire coast
Olivia Colman narrates the series, which was quite a coup for Rosie.
‘We had a meeting and we knew we wanted a voiceover. The producer said ‘Right, imagine no one’s off limits, who do you want?’ And I said Olivia. He said ‘We’re not going to get her.’ She’s just a hero and I love her energy and her humour so much, so I just said, ‘Ask her, even if it’s a no email, I will literally frame that no email!’
'But she came back and she said ‘I love Rosie, I’m a big fan, I’ll do it.’ Honestly, I’ve just taken a permanent residency on cloud nine because of that. And when you watch it, hearing her funny, beautiful and slightly judging voice of me, is just brilliant. For her to be a massive part of the show is just mind-blowing.'
In a year when UK holidays are likely to be more popular, she urges folks to explore their own island.
‘It sounds like I’m making it up but, honestly, every episode, go there. Go to Anglesey, go to Whitby, go to the Lake District and end your massive tour in Norwich because all four places were beautiful and had their own merits. So wherever is near to you and safe to you, just go there with a picnic and a load of games and your walking boots and just explore the beautiful country we’re so lucky to live in.
‘It’s in the British nature to go ‘Where I live is rubbish, I hate it so much’. But it’s not. This series is about appreciating the small things and the things on our doorstep. Politics, the government, the world, it’s all a bit much, it’s all heading straight for an apocalypse but I hope my show will give people 30 minutes every Friday to switch off and just enjoy watching silly people in beautiful places.'
Trip Hazard: My Great British Adventure, Fridays at 8.30pm on Channel 4. Box set available on All 4.
