''The Moaning of Life'' is a British

travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or web series, online series that describes travel in general or tourist attractions without recommending particular package deals or tour operators. A travelogue film is an early typ ...

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television series broadcast on

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. It follows

Karl Pilkington Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, actor, voice-artist, producer and author. After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their Xfm radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' The Ricky ...

around the world as he visits other cultures. Unlike ''

An Idiot Abroad ''An Idiot Abroad'' is a British travel documentary comedy television series broadcast on Sky One, as well as a series of companion books published by Canongate Books, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Karl Pilkington ...

'', which had a similar premise, ''The Moaning of Life'' sees Pilkington actually choosing to visit other countries in order to see how they face up to some of life's biggest issues with their cultures and customs. He also reassesses his life now that he has reached the age of 40, which he considers to be "

middle age Middle age (or middle adulthood) is the age range of the years halfway between childhood and old age. The exact range is subject to public debate, but the term is commonly used to denote the age range from 45 to 65 years. Overall This time span ...

". The series has eleven one-hour episodes, and sees Pilkington visiting

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, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United States. Its original broadcast run in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

began on 20 October 2013. Sky1 postponed the fifth and final episode of the first series – "Death", which sees Pilkington in the Philippines contemplating death with locals – after

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was an extremely powerful and catastrophic tropical cyclone that is among List of the most intense tropical cyclones, the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. Upon ...

struck the Philippines in early November 2013. Originally scheduled for 17 November 2013, it was not broadcast until 17 December 2013. The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 November 2013 in the United Kingdom.

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

began broadcasting ''The Moaning of Life'' in North America on 18 January 2014. The series aired in

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from 17 February 2015 on

BBC Knowledge BBC Knowledge was a British television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 1 June 1999, broadcasting documentary, cultural and educational programmes. It was shut down permanently on 2 March 2002, and was replaced by BBC Four. ...

. A six-part second and final series was commissioned and premiered on 13 October 2015.

Series overview

Episodes

Series 1 (2013)

North American broadcasts

In North America, Science premiered the episodes in a different order, as follows: * Episode 2, "Happiness", 18 January 2014, 10:00 p.m. EST * Episode 3, "Kids", 18 January 2014, 11:00 p.m. EST * Episode 1, "Marriage", 25 January 2014, 10:00 p.m. EST * Episode 4, "Vocation & Money", 6 February 2014, 7:00 p.m. EST * Episode 5, "Death", 6 February 2014, 8:00 p.m. EST "Vocation & Money" and "Death" originally were scheduled to air at 10:00 p.m. EST on 1 February and 8 February 2014, respectively, but both were rescheduled to 6 February 2014. At about three-quarters of the way through each North American broadcast, Science aired a brief "never-before-seen clip" from ''The Moaning of Life'' featuring Pilkington commenting on an issue during filming of the episode.

Series 2 (2015)

Home media

Despite the final episode having not yet aired in the United Kingdom due to its postponement, the entire first series was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 November 2013. The series was also made available on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...

. An advertisement featuring Pilkington complaining about Amazon.com was released on

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to promote the series. The second series titled ''The Moaning of Life 2'' was released onto DVD and Blu-ray on 23 November 2015. A boxset featuring both series was also released on 23 November 2015 on DVD and Blu-ray.

Books

* ''The Moaning of Life: The Worldly Wisdom of Karl Pilkington'' (Canongate, 2013) * ''More Moaning: The Enlightened One Returns'' (Canongate, 2016)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moaning of Life, The 2013 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2010s British comedy television series 2010s British documentary television series 2010s British travel television series British English-language television shows Sky UK original programming