In a world that increasingly feels like it runs on nothing but shrill hysteria, BBC Three’s Zen Motoring feels a little like a gift from heaven. This new six-part comedy is relentlessly calm and thoughtful, almost to the point of being disorienting. Primarily comprised of dashcam footage and ambient music, Zen Motoring is a vehicle for the patient, mind-expanded thought processes of one man: a mysterious former battle rapper named Ogmios.
Shot primarily in London, but reaching Milton Keynes and Herne Bay in Kent, Ogmios spends the series in an almost unbroken state of flow, aware of everything around him, and doing his best to increase the harmony of the road experience. When he’s blocked in by some binmen, where other drivers would twist themselves into waves of stress, Ogmios keeps his head. “I’m quite happy to chill and watch this mesmerising display,” he murmurs, like a north London beat-poet Attenborough.
