'NOTHING CAN PREPARE YOU'

Jack and Michael Whitehall are side by side once again as they explore fatherhood in a fun new series

- ALICE PENWILL

Jack and his dad, Michael Whitehall, have travelled the world together, embraced naked yoga and even played the bizarre sport of elephant polo. Now, they are reuniting and Jack is about to embark on his biggest adventure yet – fatherhood.

During the first episode of this four-part series, Jack is about to welcome his first child with partner Roxy Horner and seeks some fatherly advice from Michael. He wants to know what it takes to become a parent, and looks to the man who knows him best.

“We thought it was important that we made something completely different to the Travels With My Father series,” says Michael, 84. “So we’ve actually made something that is almost exactly the same.”

In order to prepare him for parenthood, Jack attends some antenatal classes, experiences labour pains, watches a birth simulator and even gets someintimate tips on how to help his partner.

“I picked up some tips from the antenatal class,” admits Jack, 36. “But not the perineal massage technique, especially when Michael started heckling me. I was unable to perform because all I could think about was his description of me looking like a chimpanzee trying to get peanut butter out of a jar. The birth simulator was a good way of preparing me for being in the delivery room.”