Watch Great British Railway Journeys

2010

15 seasons

Documentary

Story

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

EPISODESDETAILS

1.Denham to Swindon

March 18, 2024. 28 min

Beginning at London Marylebone, the last great Victorian railway terminus to be built in the capital, Michael Portillo embarks on a postwar exploration of Britain’s southern counties.

2.Chippenham to Yeovil

March 19, 2024. 29 min

Michael Portillo joins Navy Wings pilots for a spectacular close formation flight in the skies over Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton and visits the magnificent Elizabethan mansion of Longleat.

3.Swanage to Portchester

March 20, 2024. 28 min

Michael Portillo reaches England’s south coast to continue his exploration of postwar Britain, beginning on the steam-powered Swanage Railway in Dorset.

4.Havant to Guildford

March 21, 2024. 28 min

Michael Portillo reaches Havant, where the Scalextric factory was located, and Haslemere, the surprise birthplace of a musical phenomenon: the plastic recorder.

5.Wokingham to Heathrow

March 22, 2024. 28 min

Michael goes on a tour around Heathrow Airport, taking an eerie walk around the mothballed Terminal 1 building and ending up atop the iconic 87.5 metre control tower.

6.Loch Lomond to Kelvinbridge

March 25, 2024. 29 min

Michael Portillo boards the West Highland Line to begin a railway journey across Scotland’s central belt, from the Arrochar Alps to the Loch of the Lowes.

7.Glasgow to Cumbernauld

March 26, 2024. 28 min

At the home of Scottish football, Glasgow’s Hampden Park stadium, Michael admires the oldest football trophy in the world and hears how the 'passing game' was born there.

8.Shawlands to Livingston

March 27, 2024. 29 min

Michael Portillo continues his postwar Scottish railway adventure, this time from Glasgow to the capital, Edinburgh.

9.Edinburgh to Queensferry

March 28, 2024. 28 min

At the former Midlothian mining village of Newtongrange, Michael meets the son of a miner whose name loomed large in the disputes of the 1970s and 1980s, 'Red' Mick McGahey.

10.Dundee to Loch of the Lowes

March 29, 2024. 29 min

Michael’s rail journey through post-war Scotland takes him over the River Tay to Dundee on the trail of Joseph McKenzie, the father of modern Scottish photography.

11.Liverpool to Uttoxeter

April 1, 2024. 29 min

Michael Portillo twists and shouts through postwar Liverpool, visiting the strikingly contemporary Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and visits the former home of artist and poet Adrian Henri.

12.Derby to Nottingham

April 2, 2024. 29 min

Michael Portillo reaches the jet age in the Derby suburb of Peartree, where he tours the engineering colossus Rolls-Royce.

13.Lincoln to York

April 3, 2024. 29 min

Michael Portillo’s postwar journey from Merseyside to Teesside resumes at Brayford Pool in Lincoln, where England’s oldest canal, the Fossdyke, meets the city of Lincoln.

14.York to Skipton

April 4, 2024. 28 min

Michael Portillo’s journey finds him in York, a paradise for rail enthusiasts. He discovers the gardens at Harlow Carr in Harrogate and checks into the headquarters of Yorkshire Tea.