Brazil with Michael Palin is a travel documentary series by Michael Palin consisting of four episodes, which was first broadcast in 2012. Palin had never been to Brazil which, in the 21st century, has become a global player with a booming economy bringing massive social changes to this once-sleeping giant which, as the fifth largest country, is as big as some continents. The series should not be confused with the 1985 Terry Gilliam film Brazil, which starred Michael Palin. Episode one: Out of Africa Palin begins his journey in the northeast, where modern Brazil was born. It was here the Portuguese explorers first landed and encountered the native Brazilians and where hundreds of thousands of African slaves, more than to the United States and Caribbean, were brought to work on sugar and tobacco plantations. The northeast was where this mix of races and cultures produced what we now think of as Brazil. Music, food, dance and religion all bear the imprint of this mix. Palin visits the city of São Luís during the celebration of its own very northeastern festival of Bumba Meu Boi ("Jump My Bull") before travelling down the coast to Recife and Salvador. On his way, he drops in on the vaqueiros, Brazilian cowboys, who work the massive cattle ranches of the caatinga. His travels also take him to the stunning coastal lagoons of the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. In Salvador, Palin learns to drum with the famous Olodum school, experiences the trance and dance of Candomblé, the Afro-Brazilian religion, finds out how to cook Bahian-style and discovers what lies behind the beguiling moves of capoeira dancers. UK viewing figures: 5.74 million Episode two: Into Amazonia Palin continues his first visit to Brazil by travelling by river and plane from the northern border with Venezuela to the capital of Brasília. Along the way he visits the indigenous tribe Yanomami, accessible only by air, learning about the threat to their hunter-gatherer way of life. He moves on to the city of Manaus, population two million, watching a rehearsal by the Amazon Philharmonic Orchestra in the Manaus Opera House and then taking two ferries on the fourteen-hour journey to the remains of Henry Ford's unsuccessful attempt to build a vast rubber plantation at Fordlândia in the middle of the rainforest. In Belém music producer Priscilla explains why Amazonian women are such a powerful force in the country. Palin moves