Comedian Alexei Sayle attempts to travel from Aleppo in northern Syria to Aqaba in Jordan on the Red Sea, by a variety of trains.

The first leg of the journey is Aleppo to Lattakia on the Mediterranean coast. On arrival at Lattakia, Alexei takes a taxi to al Siwar restaurant where he meets Syria's favourite comic Bashar Ismail.

Then it's back on the train heading for the Syrian capital Damascus, but stopping off for a short break at Crac de Chevaliers where Khaled Mourad and his father show Alexei round the castle.

On reaching Hejaz station, Alexei manages to catch the International Train to Deraa, and then takes a steam (actually diesel) train from Deraa to Bosra where he visits the Roman amphitheatre, but turns out to be two months early for the annual music and arts festival.

He then passes through Amman, hitches a lift on a service trolley to Petra, and takes a freight train for the final leg of the journey to Wadi Rum and on to Aqaba where, at journey's end, he reflects on 'the explosive intimacy of the Middle East'. Show less