9:00pm Wednesday 14 November on BBC ONE
In The Deep South, the final episode, Michael is surprised by the rich diversity of Brazil’s Deep South – where European and Asian influences have created a new melting pot.
In the picture-perfect town of Paraty, Michael meets Prince Joao de Braganza, the heir to the defunct throne of Brazil. He visits Embraer – the world’s third-largest commercial aircraft manufacturer and just one of Brazil’s many recent high-tech success stories. Then, while taking to the skies of Sao Paolo ?with Wilson Quintela – the ‘king of waste disposal’ – in order to avoid the hundred-mile traffic jams, Michael learns there’s millions to be made from the rubbish dumps of the megalopolis.
Michael meets TV soap star Carolina Ferraz on the set of her most recent hit telenovela, where storylines are fuelled by issues of poverty alongside love triangles. In the slums of Sao Paolo, Carolina takes Michael to visit rap star, philosopher and poet Criolo, who thinks the notion of social equality is a distant dream for most Brazilians. But ex-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso gives Michael a more optimistic view of Brazil’s melting pot.
Travelling south to Blumenau, Michael’s views on what makes a typical Brazilian are challenged when he meets German speakers, Bavarian schulplatte dancers and models who dream of becoming the next Giselle Bundchen. In the vast wetlands of The Pantanal, Michael catches piranha for sushi and helps cowboys treat a calf attacked by a jaguar, before his journey comes to an end at the magnificent Iguazu falls.
Ep 4/4