Baz Ashmawy corners his mother Nancy into free-falling from aircraft, swimming with great whites and racing rally cars across Moroccan dunes, filming every shriek and rosary-mouthed protest for Sky One’s three-season stunt. The conceit began when Nancy casually mentioned she fancied a skydive; Baz answered with a bucket list designed to terrorise a pensioner who still calls to say her tea’s gone cold.
Each 60-minute episode lands them somewhere new (a Kazakh firing range, a Florida swamp, a zero-gravity chamber) while Nancy clutches her handbag and mutters Hail Marys until the adrenaline kicks in and she’s whooping like a teenager.
Ratings in Ireland were Sky 1’s best for 2014, and the format sold to 150 territories, spawning local remakes in Denmark, Holland and Belgium. In 2015 the International Emmy jury awarded the series Best Non-Scripted Entertainment, praising the unscripted warmth between a showman son and the woman who once made him wear a duffel coat to school in July.
Production Details
Sky One / 3 Seasons / 18 Episodes / 2014
Main Cast
Baz Ashmawy as Himself
Nancy Ashmawy as Herself
