Joanna Lumley’s Danube: release date, locations, episode guide, interview and everything we know

Joanna Lumley’s Danube on ITV1 sees the AbFab star-turned-travelogue queen take an adventure down the River Danube.

The three-part series follows Dame Joanna as she explores the 1770-mile-long river from its source in Germany’s Black Forest all the way to Romania where it opens out into the Black Sea. And as usual she manages to charm everyone she meets, from nuns, to gay folk dancers and even witches!

"I didn’t actually realise that the Danube went through 10 different countries, so that was a thrill!" says Dame Joanna, 79. "It was wonderful to use the river as a guideline. We go to Germany, where the river rises, and then Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Then up to the Ukraine border to meet some Ukrainian refugees and back to the river again as she slips out into the Black Sea. 

"It was extraordinary, terribly touching, very funny and also very extreme. You could think, oh it’s just Europe, but everything about the trip was eye-opening!"

So here’s everything you need to know about Joanna Lumley’s Danube on ITV1…

Joanna Lumley’s Danube release date

Joanna Lumley’s Danube will begin on Friday, May 23, 2025 at 9pm on ITV1. All three episodes will also be shown on ITVX.

Is there a trailer?

Not yet! But no doubt it will be full of Joanna’s usual humour and charm so we’ll post here as soon as it lands.

Locations and what happens in Joanna Lumley’s Danube

After shows like Joanna Lumley’s Great Cities of the World and Joanna Lumley’s Spice Trail Adventure, the star is on a new journey, this time taking in unique trip through the heart of Europe via the Danube, the most international river in the world.

From source to sea, Joanna will be tracking the river from its origins beneath the pines of Germany’s Black Forest all the way to the Black Sea. 

On the way, she’ll encounter Bavaria’s beer-brewing nuns, Slovakia’s stunning snow-capped peaks, Hungary’s Great Plain and its distinctive cowboys, the majesty of Vienna and Budapest, the raw beauty of Transylvania and the unique wilderness that is the Danube Delta.

Joanna Lumley’s Danube episode guide

Here's our guide to all three episodes of Joanna Lumley’s Danube...

Episode 1
Dame Joanna begins her Danube adventure at its source in Germany’s Black Forest where the mighty river begins as just a tiny trickle before opening out into the stunning Danube Gorge in Bavaria. She also meets some beer-brewing nuns and gets to dance with a lederhosen-clad group of gay folk dancers. Later, in Vienna she spends time with Austrian A-lister Tom Neuwirth, best known as former Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst.

"I’ll never forget the brewing nuns!’ she says. ‘They made beer and had a very flourishing industry from selling it. When I asked the sister if she thought God would approve of alcohol she said, I think God wants us to be happy and alcohol makes us happy. I thought that was the sweetest answer I’ve ever heard."

Episode 2
Following the Danube downstream for the second leg of her adventure, Dame Joanna reaches Hungary’s great plains where she spends time with some traditional horse-mounted herdsmen, known as Csikos, who are famous for their unique riding style, acrobatic horsemanship and distinctive dress. 

"They’re sort of like cowboys, they tend livestock and they’re fabulous horsemen," explains Dame Joanna. "It’s a tradition that can be traced back to the nomadic tribes that brought their animals to graze on Hungary’s great plains almost 900 years ago." Meanwhile, she also meets environmentalists fighting the river’s plastic waste, and some incredibly strong mountain porters in Slovakia’s snowy Tatra Mountains. "There were snowstorms up in the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia,’ she says. ‘It was phenomenally cold!"

Episode 3
Dame Joanna sinks her teeth into the folklore of Transylvania. Having starred in the 1973 horror film The Satanic Rites of Dracula, she finally gets to visit Bran Castle, better known as Dracula’s Castle. There’s also an extraordinary encounter with a group of Roma women, who practice ancient witchcraft, plus a special overnight stay at King Charles’s rustic Romanian retreat and some bird spotting on the Danube Delta where the river meets the Black Sea.

"In this final episode, we slept on a boat in Romania, which I loved,’ she says. ‘Romania has one of the biggest wetlands in the world, with more birds than you could ever dream of. It was like wandering into paradise with these huge open lagoons and lakes, and every kind of bird from vast eagles, storks and cranes to tiny finches, ducks and coots. It was like a picture of paradise. Beautiful beyond words!"