Malta’s status as the Hollywood of the Mediterranean continues to be cemented year after year as foreign productions continue to flood our islands to score our locations as backdrop.

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A post shared by Jane McDonald (@thejanemcdonald) on Apr 19, 2019 at 11:30am PDT

Now, another production, featuring Malta, is set to hit the British airwaves through an episode of Holidaying with Jane McDonald & Friends. A grounded spinoff from BAFTA award-winning series Cruising with Jane McDonald, the travelogue show explores various countries through the eyes of popular British singer, personality and broadcaster Jane McDonald.

Expat Colin Backhouse, or Mr Malta, as he is referred to, was one of those who volunteered to show the production team around during Jane’s three day September stay on the island. He explains how this cool opportunity came about: “The producer of the show asked me if I was interested to show Jane around as [the producer] followed my Facebook page,” he says. The page in question is Malta Holiday Experiences, through which he incessantly promotes the Maltese islands.

The Valletta tour started at Triton Fountain just outside the Valletta City Gate, moved on to Teatru Rjal and also included the area surrounding St John’s Co-Cathedral. Keeping in line with his character, Mr Malta sums up the experience as “a light hearted view of Valletta from my point of view.”

The overarching Malta tour also covered the Three Cities (a.k.a Bormla, Birgu and Isla) and the old capital Mdina, but Mr Malta was not involved in those excursions.  Despite this, he hopes his little Valletta tour worked its charm: “my love of my Malta shone through hopefully!” he says. The episode, which will dedicate a full 15 minutes to the Maltese islands, is expected to air on Channel 5 on Friday 31^st January at 9pm British time (that’s 10pm Malta time if you have the channel on your telly!).

Will you be tuning in to watch?