Trevor McDonald is an English institution; a distinguished reporter and a newsreader famous for the phrase 'and finally'. 'Mighty Mississippi' (ITV) is the perfect vehicle for McDonald as he travels across the vast river, sharing the journey with an envious 'thetvreviewguy. It is an awesome feat of nature with both a shameful and glorious history. The contrast between the plantation mansions and slave huts where the former inhabitants were chained to the land is still deeply moving, 150 years after the end of slavery. That's how close and relevant slavery is to US history, about five generations ago; it has left a searing scar on the US body politic and McDonald was clearly moved in particular by the inhumanity of slaves being counted and valued as chattel in a ledger book from before the Civil War. Yet from the depths of slavery came hope in the form of music and specifically Gospel Music; McDonald brought us to a church that rocked, where the congregation rejoiced in harmonies developed on the plantation fields. You can't tour the Mississippi either without visiting New Orleans and remembering Hurricane Katrina, another time in American history when being black and poor could have cost you your life; the criminal tardiness of the Katrina aftermath would not have been allowed to happen in New Hampshire or Orange County. 'Thetvreviewguy' looks forward to the next instalment of 'Mighty Mississippi', escorted by the ever-affable Trevor McDonald.
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