Germany

In this episode, Paul Hollywood visits Germany to try and find out what makes the country tick when it comes to cars. How do the cars they make and the way they drive them reflect the character of the nation? On his trip, Paul drives some of the best and worst cars built in Germany and is joined by a few travelling companions who provide an insight into German culture and explain what they think their cars say about their country.

His six-day, 1,000-mile road trip starts in Berlin, before taking in the VW stronghold of Wolfsburg, and then Eisenach, the former base of East German car maker Wartburg. Paul then heads down to Frankfurt, to drive a famous stretch of the autobahn, before continuing south to Stuttgart, a city synonymous with Porsche. On his final day, he heads northwest to one of the most famous, and notorious, racing circuits in the world - the Nurburgring.

On day one, comedian Christian Shulte-Loh teaches Paul how to drive like a German on the streets of Berlin. Their transport is a German engineering marvel from the 1960s, the Mercedes 600 Grosser - a favourite with heads of state, dictators and celebrities of the time. The 600 is massive, which doesn't make it an ideal learner car! Paul leaves the city at dusk in a modern German engineering marvel, the beautiful BMW i8 hybrid supercar - a car that really allows him to enjoy the autobahn. As night falls, Paul stops at the Marienborn checkpoint, a Cold War border crossing where West Germans prepared for an anxious journey through a hundred miles of East German territory to reach the isolated enclave of West Berlin.

Day two starts in VW town, Wolfsburg - a small farming town transformed into the home of one the world's largest car brands. Having inspected its utopian surroundings, Paul continues his journey in one of VW's most uncharacteristic products, a Kombi camper van. The Kombi is favoured by hippies the world over - a movement which has the same German roots as another counterculture still popular here - naturism. Paul finishes his day by visiting a German nudist colony.

On day three, Paul drives into what used to be communist East Germany to the town of Eisenach. Here, he visits the now derelict factory where they used to build the best car ever to come out of East Germany, the Wartburg 353. He hooks up with local boy Enrico, who lets him go for a spin in his family's beloved Wartburg. To Paul, the vehicle seems positively archaic, so how well will it compare with a West German equivalent from the same 1970s period - a BMW 2002? A drag race will decide.

The next day is about the German love of speed. Just south of Frankfurt is a stretch of the autobahn built specifically for speed record attempts in the 1930s. Paul is joined by racing legend Bernd Schneider to discover why being the fastest in the world was so important to the Germans at that time. And what is the connection between Bernd and one of the greatest pre-war German racers, who subsequently died on that stretch of road?

Day five and Paul's in Stuttgart. The day begins with a visit to a very cool car wash that cost 20 million euros to build. After that, Paul pays homage to Germany's greatest sports car, if not the world's greatest sports car, the Porsche 911. Now over 50 years old, why has it been so enduring?

The last day is spent at the German shrine to motor racing, the Nurburgring. Famously called the Green Hell by Jackie Stewart, its 13-mile length is the ultimate test of man and machine. And what's best is that anyone can drive it - one lap costs 25 euros. Comedian and Germanophile Al Murray joins Paul for the day and after they've had coffee and a bit of a chat about the Germans, they head to the track. How will Paul get on as he drives the Nurburgring for the first time? And will Al wish he'd never agreed to ride with him?