Burma With Simon Reeve

Simon Reeve travels to beautiful and troubled Burma, also called Myanmar, for a new two-part series.

Simon Reeve travels to beautiful and troubled Burma, also called Myanmar, for a new two-part series. Cut off for decades under military rule, Burma now has a democratically elected government led by world-famous Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. But in August 2017, the world was left stunned when a brutal military operation drove hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims from their homes. On his journey Simon discovers a divided country – where life is steadily improving for many, while others still live in terror of the military who still have enormous power in the country.

In the first episode, Simon travels to the biggest city in the country, Yangon to find out how the country is transforming. From there he drives north, into Burma’s Buddhist heartlands and the stunning ancient capital of Bagan – a sight that rivals the great wonders of the world. He meets the monks who supported the people through the darkest days of dictatorship. And he’s granted an audience with some of the most contentious figures in the country – ultranationalist monks preaching hate against the country’s Muslim Rohingya.

Banned from visiting the scene of the military crackdown against the Rohingya, Simon travels to Bangladesh to meet the refugees traumatised by the violence. In what is now the biggest refugee settlement in the world, he learns about a crisis that has been brewing for decades, with no sign of ending, and potentially grave consequences for the wider region.

Publicity contact: AW2