It is easy to warm to Billy Connolly’s three-part Great American Trail mini-series. The 76-year old comedian’s mission is simple: to discover and track the journeys and achievements of thousands of Scottish migrants down the centuries. They endured harsh travelling conditions and risked their lives to start a new life in America.

Connolly recounts the legend of national icon Uncle Sam, a character based on Scottish meat packer Samuel Smith. The Big Yin goes on to serve up further instances of Scots playing an active part in shaping American daily life.

Take the primary school teacher, who is reviving an indigenous North American language alongside the surviving members of the tribe. Or the marine biologist studying whales off the Massachusetts coast, whose breakthrough research tool rejoices in the name of Snotbot.

The programme is gentle and sympathetic throughout, the subject matter is interestingly offbeat. There is a passing mention in the second programme that Billy Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson’s six years ago. Which is the right way to go, since Billy Connolly is fronting a travel programme, not a Parkinson’s documentary.

The series started on Thursday September 5 at 9pm on ITV, with further episodes on September 12 and 19 respectively and repeats on the following Sundays at 10.20pm. Look for it on the ITV Hub or treat someone special to the DVD for Christmas.