Clive Myrie has responded to suggestions that his forthcoming BBC travel programme about Italy resembles Stanley Tucci’s in a humorous way.
The 58-year-old presenter debuted his new show, Italian Road Trip, on Tuesday. In it, he visits cities like Lazio and Florence while travelling the nation and getting to know the people and culture there.
Meanwhile, in the now-cancelled Searching For Italy series, the Devil Wears Prada actor, 62, examined the famed tourist destination’s various cuisines, from ragu in Bologna to pizza in Naples.
Following the announcement of Italian Road Trip, which will follow the Mastermind presenter as he learns how to make Prosecco and create mozzarella in Amalfi, one Twitter user couldn’t help but joke that Stanley would be displeased with the idea.
They wrote: ‘Stanley Tucci would like a word.’
But Clive, in good spirits, replied: ‘Oops! Is he hacked off? Tell him I’m out of town…in Italy!’
When discussing the 15-part series Italian Road Trip, Clive revealed that he had been a frequent traveller to Italy for 30 years and claimed that La Bella Paese had “captured my heart many years ago.”
He continued: ‘This trip helped me discover places, communities and traditions I’d never come across before and the series is packed with beautiful locations, delicious food and the friendliest people, I hope BBC viewers enjoy the Italian sunshine with me this May.’
When CNN chose to axe Stanley’s Searching for Italy, the wildly popular program’s fans were devastated.
Chris Licht, the company’s CEO, indicated that owing to “ever-increasing costs,” CNN was changing its emphasis away from original programmes created by independent production companies.
However, the Citadel actor gave fans a glimmer of hope the show could return on This Morning stating: ‘We’ll do more of them, we just don’t know where it’ll end up.’
Clive Myrie’s Italian Road Trip starts Monday, May 1 at 6.30pm on BBC Two.