Richard Ayoade hates holidays - so he makes the perfect host for Channel 4's latest travel show

The comedian will front the channel's upcoming show Travel Man

Research shows that regular exposure to other people's glamorous holiday snaps makes us feel miserable. So what's the difference between this torture and the travel documentaries on television?

This week, two new programmes about other people's holidays begin; there's a South American road-trip in Dara and Ed's Great Big Adventure and an extended tour of paradise in Caribbean with Simon Reeve. How lovely for them.

For those stuck at home, however, great travel TV has one essential element and it isn't a witty narration or beautiful landscapes; it's a host who doesn't seem to be having too much fun. Travel Man, the upcoming Channel 4 show fronted by Richard Ayoade has the right idea. According to the blurb, Ayoade "hates going on holiday".

A match made in prison

Louis Theroux: By Reason of Insanity is a two-part series of interviews with the criminally insane inmates of Ohio State Psychiatric Hospital. But then, you'd expect Theroux to have his behind-bars banter down by now. His previous films include Behind Bars, Miami Mega Jail and A Place for Paedophiles.

Nor is he the only well-spoken Englishman to have found a niche chatting to American criminals. Nick Broomfield and Trevor McDonald have both made prison documentaries, and although The Mafia with Trevor McDonald (Monday, ITV) takes place outside institutional walls, the love affair between US convicts and bumbling Brits continues. Expect Ben Fogle: Banged Up Abroad in a primetime slot any day now.