Driving a convertible along the sunny French Riviera - isn't showbiz tough! ROLAND WHITE reviews Kevin McCloud's Classic Car Road Trips

Kevin McCloud’s Classic Car Road Trips (Channel 4)

Rating: Three out of five stars 

Kevin McCloud looked like the cat who had just won a lifetime's supply of finest-quality clotted cream, and who could blame him.

He was driving through the magnificent French Riviera. The sky was blue, the sun was beating down, the roof was off, and he was basking in the admiration of fellow drivers.

'Exceptionelle!' shouted one van man, which makes a change from the usual things that van men shout.

The car in question was a convertible Citroen DS, which was once named as the most beautiful car of the 20th century. 

'It really feels as if you're driving a piece of sculpture around,' Kevin said.

Kevin McCloud's Classic Car Road Trips was a bit like Top Gear presented by Brian Sewell, the art critic. 

Instead of watching the car being pushed to its limits on the track, we were invited instead to admire its curves and its beauty and its 'glorious back end'. How very French.

'It sounds like the wind,' said Kevin, 'and the suspension is like it's actually floating on the breeze.' 

I should imagine Kevin was floating on much the same breeze when his agent phoned up to say he'd been offered this series, in which he drives six beautiful classic cars in the countries of their origin. Isn't showbiz tough!

The first episode didn't get off to an ideal start. Kevin was waiting in Cannes (blue sky, sunshine, tough life, see above) for the car to be delivered from Monaco when he got a phone call: it had broken down.

It was being repaired in Monaco, where mechanic Lionel Aubert looked like a slightly ageing actor. Soon the car was ready to drive, he announced, but was Kevin?

The gear lever was on the steering wheel. There was no clutch, and he was able to select the height of the suspension. 

And, of course, he had to cope with all these new things while remembering to drive on the correct side of the road.

Lionel looked nervous as he gave a quick lesson in driving the Citroen but perhaps not as nervous as Kevin.

No matter how beautiful the car or the countryside, nobody wants to spend 45 minutes watching somebody else enjoying them. 

So Kevin stopped off at the village of Biot to play a pioneering version of boules – with wooden cubes. 

He visited some young design students, fans of old technology, and called in at a restaurant with its own private art collection.

And in perhaps the most French thing an English television presenter has ever done, Kevin tested the Citroen's suspension by driving it along a cobbled street while sipping at a cup of coffee. Not a drop was spilled.

In England, he'd have been stopped and issued with a fixed penalty notice.