But comic cites sexism as she struggles to find a broadcaster

Lucy Beaumont is trying to crack the male stranglehold on comedians making travel shows with their parents.

The comedian is developing a show in which she hits the road with her mum, the playwright Gill Adams, who also featured in her U&Dave faux reality show Meet The Richardsons, pictured. 

But she has faced an uphills struggle to get the series commissioned – musing that ‘if we were men, we would be in our second or third series by now’.

The comic and Celebrity Traitors star revealed she and her mum had made a ‘hilarious’ taster of their planned travel show for the BBC with ‘one of the best production companies in the UK’, but were told the Corporation wasn’t looking for another travelogue.

And when they pitched it to Discovery, Beaumont said she was told their proposal was ‘too female-centred’. The broadcaster did, however, commission Sara Pascoe and Roisin Conaty to make the the upcoming Zero Stars for its newly relaunched TLC channel. 

Russell Howard, Romesh Ranganathan, Jack Whitehall and Irish comic Baz Ashmawy have all made travel shows with their parents. And several male comedians have paired up for travelogues such as  Channel 4's Two Men On A Bike with Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel; the BBC’s The Trip with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon; Gold’s Neil & Martin's Bon Voyage with Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes and U&Dave's Will & Ralf Should Know Better. 

Speaking on broadcaster Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast, Beaumont said of her planned series: ‘It’s with someone - I won’t say who it’s with just in case… they’re umming and aching.

‘People say things are balanced and equal. No they’re not. If we were two men and had made something that funny, it would be on a main channel.’

She likened their relationship to Steptoe and Son, adding: ‘I just find it fascinating that I'm just so sure that with the amount of telly I've done now and how funny my mum is, if we were men, we would be in our second or third series by now.

‘Now I'm so sure of it. I'm not just being flippant. I'm pretty sure about it. So I think there's still just a long way to go.’

Adams previously made a one-off travel show in which Beaumont's ex-husband, Jon Richardson tried to help her move to Andalusia 

Published: 5 Mar 2026