Entertainer Lionel Blair, wildlife presenter Bill Oddie, actress Amanda Barrie, snooker champion Dennis Taylor, TV personality Rustie Lee, TV doctor Miriam Stoppard, Three Degrees singer Sheila Ferguson and Just Good Friends actor Paul Nicholas arrive at their new home, a 16th-century mansion in Old Kochi.

Sheila is keen to make sure she gets what she wants out of the experience, but Lionel finds dealing with the realities of living in India unsettling - the animals in the street, the more basic way of life and the piles of rubbish that can distract from the beauty. Paul, Bill and Dennis rise to the challenge with humour and classic one-liners, and Rustie and Miriam seem charmed by their first days here. The group then head off to visit the world-famous backwaters, hundreds of miles of waterways that criss-cross through the villages and jungles, on traditional houseboats.