Michael Winterbottom’s three Trip films are, in essence, all the same: two middle-aged men motor through beautiful locations around the world and eat sumptuous meals in high-end provincial restaurants while impersonating celebrities, sniping at each other, and complaining about various physical and emotional ailments. On paper this doesn’t sound enthralling, especially three times over, and yet each film is a thoughtful character study exploring themes such as ageing, family, love, and the need to be loved – without taking itself too seriously.

In this latest installment, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (who play approximations of themselves) have been commissioned by The Observer to review Spanish restaurants from Santander in the north to Málaga in the south. Coogan, fresh from filming a US television series, now seeks acclaim as a writer, and decides to document his journey in the style of Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969). Brydon’s star is rising, having been cast in the lead role of a (fictional) Michael Mann film in the previous The Trip to Italy (2014). He now has two young children and leads a happy domestic life, whereas Coogan is in a tenuous relationship with his now married former lover Mischa (Margo Stilley). As the two men wind their way from the verdant Basque region to the parched, golden hills further south, they engage in a seemingly never-ending game of one-upmanship through congenial banter, loud impersonations in quiet restaurants, and sing-alongs in Coogan’s Range Rover.