It’s said that travel broadens the mind, yet Danny Dyer and his daughter, Dani, reckon the opposite may be true in their case as they embark on a travel adventure like no other when they swap Essex for Italy in Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy.
Danny plans to introduce Dani to Italian culture, cuisine, art and history as they visit Sicily, Florence, Rome, and Milan. What they actually discover is they’re not massive fans of traveling, but have a lot of fun spending time together.
Here, Danny, 45, and Dani, 26, tell us more about their unique Italian capers…
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy season 1 — release date
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy is a four-part series that starts on E4 on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 9 pm.
It’s also available as a box set on All4 after episode one airs.
Absolutely Dyer season 1 — trailer
Check out the trailer for Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy. Warning: contains strong language!
Last year, Danny and Dani Dyer embarked on a father / daughter road trip in a culture tour of Italy, taking in all the scenery, art and history they can handle.Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani do Italy starts Sunday 23 April at 9pm on @E4Tweets and All 4 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/pynMpz6mTAApril 12, 2023
Absolutely Dyer — how does it work
Danny is on a mission to broaden daughter Dani’s horizons with an Italian road trip. The aim is education, the outcome is pure entertainment!
“I think we both got a bit thicker while we were doing it!” laughs Danny when speaking to What To Watch about the series. “What we’ve learned is that we’re not travelers. We learned a little bit about Italian history and religion, but it's not an educational show.
“E4 puts us in situations like ‘here’s a wonderful cathedral — action!’ The whole thing is completely improvised. There's a great scene in a church in Rome where we're surrounded by such beauty, but talking random nonsense. It’s more of a father/daughter relationship/fly-on-the-wall/reality show, isn't it? "
“Yes, and it’s the complete opposite of how we holiday,” says Dani. “I know people love backpacking, exploring and traveling, but our holidays usually are very chilled, around a pool, eating and drinking all the time.”
“Let’s be very clear, this wasn’t a holiday!” jokes Danny. “I think that’s what makes it different. There are thousands of shows about Italy, it’s a beautiful country, but this is about two Dyers on a bit of a quest. And the quest was to get to the end!”
Absolutely Dyer — filming locations
The first episode kicks off in Sicily with the Dyers sampling street food, climbing an active volcano and trying their hand at squid fishing.
In the second episode, they visit Florence, where they take in Renaissance masterpieces, go wine tasting and perform poetry to a live audience.
In Rome for episode three, Dani learns who the Pope is and enjoys chickpea stew with a monk in a remote mountaintop monastery.
While on the fourth and final leg of their adventure, they sample luxury in Milan and live it up on Lake Como.
Speaking about their favourite places to visit, Dani reveals: “I loved Florence and when we went on a boat in Lake Como — that was heaven.”
“Yeah, we wrapped the series up in Lake Como, which is stunningly beautiful. It was a real treat and somewhere I'd like to go back to,” agrees Danny, who adds: “Stromboli was amazing, 400 people live on this island and it’s got a live, active volcano that we climb. We visited something like 17 places in 23 days. There was a lot of traveling and [off-camera] we had my lovely little grandson [Dani’s son] Santiago with us. It was quite testing at times!
“Driving in Palermo was insane. There were just no rules. Everyone was angry and had the hump. I was petrified!
“In every episode, they try to get us to eat something mental. I didn’t mind the tuna spunk [Lattume] in episode one, but Dani struggled with it, didn’t you babe?”
“It’s because I was told what it was!” laughs Dani. “Italy’s really beautiful, Italian people are so friendly and the food is incredible.”
Danny and Dani Dyer on working together
When asked what they enjoy about working together Dani says: “Just spending time together really. I don’t know if you feel the same way Dad, but it’s like going on holiday with one of your friends. Even when we’ve been filming all day, we still want to be together at the end. It doesn't feel like work because we have a laugh. I love that.”
“Yeah, that's the key to it and why I really wanted to do this,” agrees doting dad, Danny. “It’s a beautiful thing being able to work with family. Ultimately, I love my daughter and I want to work with her as much as I can. We're very close and talk about anything and everything.”
Does this mean the Dyers would be up for a second season of Absolutely Dyer? “There was talk of America maybe,” reveals Danny. “But we find ourselves in a situation where Dani is about to drop twins in May, so she’s going to be incredibly busy. Let’s see how this series goes down. If people want to see more, then why not?”
“You can never say never and we had so much fun. It’s something to think about,” says Dani. “We could go round Essex!”
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy — season 1 episode guide
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy — episode 1
Provided by E4 press: “Danny Dyer is on a mission to fill in some of the gaps in his beloved first-born, Dani's, general knowledge. So, he's organized their first-ever dad-and-daughter road trip; a four-week culture tour of Italy, taking in all the scenery, art and history they can handle... and trying to find out if this travel lark is really their thing. What chaos will they cause...?! The Dyers' tour of Italy starts in Sicily, where Danny has put together a week that he hopes will inspire Dani. The trip kicks off by sampling the street food scene in Palermo and catching their own dinner. Danny gets spiritual - and physical - by a volcano, and the dad-and-daughter duo discuss everything from life and death to the birds and bees.”
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy — episode 2
From E4: “Danny and Dani explore art and high culture and sample a taste of La Dolce Vita on a trip from Florence to the bay of poets. Danny has arranged a trip to see Renaissance masterpieces in the Uffizi Gallery, followed by horse riding and wine tasting at a Tuscan vineyard and performing poetry to a live audience at sea on the Cinque Terre.”
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy — episode 3
From E4: “On the next step in their Italian tour, Danny wants his daughter Dani to learn about faith and religion. Where better to start that in Rome? Dani admits that she doesn’t know who the Pope is, which is then followed by a trip to a town obsessed with racing donkeys, and ends with a day of work, prayer and chickpea stew with a monk in a remote mountaintop monastery.”
Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy — episode 4
From E4: “On the final leg of their tour of Italy, Danny and Dani explore the importance of money and wealth — and try to figure out what makes them truly happy. They sample true luxury on a visit to Milan, spend a day appreciating nature and the simple life in a commune in the foothills of the alps. Before rounding off their adventure holidaying like a-listers at stunning Lake Como.”
Bonus quotes for anyone who’s read this far…
What’s next for you Danny, you clearly have something interesting in the works [he’s in full-make up and sporting a wig and moustache during our video interview]...
Danny: “I can't tell you baby, but I'm doing something that is probably the biggest thing I've ever done. It's so exciting and all will be revealed very soon. I know I look like the geezers from the 118 adverts. This is my own ‘tash by the way, but not me own hair, unfortunately!”
Dani: [Laughing] “You wish it was your own hair!”
The hat box revelation
Dani: “Please tell everyone about your hat box!”
Danny: “They asked me to bring some hats, fedoras, so I did carry a hat box. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a hat box…”
Dani: “He had this hat box with him for the whole trip and every destination the hat box would have its own seat. I don’t even know why you did that!”
Danny: “Well I was told to bring hats. In the end I just threw the hat box because it was winding me up.”
Hilariously themselves at every leg of the journey, the Dyers are endearing and entertaining as accidental tourists in their colorful (translation: sweary!) new travelogue. Catch the series when it launches on E4 on Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 9pm or as a box set, which is available after episode one airs.
