Destination X hit TV screens this summer, giving viewers and contestants an unpredictable journey across Europe – with one twist: nobody knows where they are!
The concept is fun and original, following a group of players on a bus with no windows to see outside. They get clues and hints about their location – and sometimes even false leads to keep the mystery going.
The format has already been a hit in Belgium and had a run in the US, and now it’s the UK’s turn to enjoy this adventure-packed series. A big part of the show is its travel element, with contestants moving from place to place across Europe, either on the specially designed X-bus or, as shown in episode 3, by train.
The series is certified by BAFTA Albert, an organisation helping the film and TV industry cut down its environmental impact. Executive producer David Clews said the team was “always conscious” of this. In an interview with RadioTimes.com, he shared that while planning the journey, they always focused on finding the most eco-friendly way to travel.
It’s always thinking about how we can reduce the environmental impact and those measures that we can [be] put in place to make sure that we’ve got a carbon action plan that we feel comfortable with. So there’s obviously lots of things that we did to get that certification.
he said
Travelling by coach is already an eco-friendly option, with a report from Roberts Travel Group stating that one coach filled with passengers can remove up to 50 cars from the road, greatly reducing emissions per passenger and trip.
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For Destination X, the production used diesel generators on set and shared power through battery packs, so it didn’t depend entirely on the generators.
We were sort of thinking about lower carbon catering choices. The buses have got LED lighting, recycling, and the coaches themselves have got Euro six diesel engines so they admit less CO2 than standard vehicles.
Clews told RadioTimes.com
The team understood that a show of this size needed a big crew traveling across the country. Clews mentioned that they chose bigger vehicles to move the crew, usually “16-seater mini-buses, and some nine-seaters too.”
Travelling by coach has lower emissions per passenger than car travel, so that was something that was integral to our planning. The movement order of everyone across the series… [for example] how many people do you need versus how many office jobs can you [have] in terms of production roles? Can you keep [people] back in the UK from a planning perspective?
He continued
A green memo was also made for the staff, asking everyone to consider how they could be as sustainable as possible. Interestingly, the show’s way of keeping the contestants’ locations secret also helped make the production more environmentally efficient.
If we were using local caterers, there would be things [where] we would be decanting the food into into containers where it wouldn’t give the game away. So it was more things like that. We’d always have a portaloo with us. So I guess you could argue that was definitely all part of the sort of sustainability.
Clews told RadioTimes.com
So, what’s next? There’s no news yet about a second season of Destination X, but sustainable TV shows are on the rise. BAFTA Albert has been working with clients from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and streaming services like Netflix.
In 2023 alone, 3,003 productions completed their carbon footprint assessments, and 2,451 received certification. Also, 3,967 people from the screen industry took part in Albert’s training. The organisation has even partnered with ITV’s Emmerdale to help the show move towards becoming a net-zero production.
We’re all accountable, aren’t we? And we all have to think about this and that’s whether we’re filming abroad or very locally. [How] can we be as sustainable as possible? It’s super important and something that we all have to think about.
Looking to the future, Clews told RadioTimes.com
Source: RadioTimes