Great British Railway Journeys (2010)
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.
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Episode 1 - Denham to Swindon
Release Date: 2024-03-18Beginning 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.
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Episode 2 - Chippenham to Yeovil
Release Date: 2024-03-19Michael 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.
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Episode 3 - Swanage to Portchester
Release Date: 2024-03-20Michael Portillo reaches England’s south coast to continue his exploration of postwar Britain, beginning on the steam-powered Swanage Railway in Dorset.
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Episode 4 - Havant to Guildford
Release Date: 2024-03-21Michael Portillo reaches Havant, where the Scalextric factory was located, and Haslemere, the surprise birthplace of a musical phenomenon: the plastic recorder.
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Episode 5 - Wokingham to Heathrow
Release Date: 2024-03-22Michael 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.
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Episode 6 - Loch Lomond to Kelvinbridge
Release Date: 2024-03-25Michael 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.
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Episode 7 - Glasgow to Cumbernauld
Release Date: 2024-03-26At 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.
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Episode 8 - Shawlands to Livingston
Release Date: 2024-03-27Michael Portillo continues his postwar Scottish railway adventure, this time from Glasgow to the capital, Edinburgh.
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Episode 9 - Edinburgh to Queensferry
Release Date: 2024-03-28At 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.
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Episode 10 - Dundee to Loch of the Lowes
Release Date: 2024-03-29Michael’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.
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Episode 11 - Liverpool to Uttoxeter
Release Date: 2024-04-01Michael 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.
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Episode 12 - Derby to Nottingham
Release Date: 2024-04-02Michael Portillo reaches the jet age in the Derby suburb of Peartree, where he tours the engineering colossus Rolls-Royce.
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Episode 13 - Lincoln to York
Release Date: 2024-04-03Michael 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.
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Episode 14 - York to Skipton
Release Date: 2024-04-04Michael 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.
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Episode 15 - Northallerton to Chester-Le-Street
Release Date: 2024-04-05Michael Portillo confronts a detachment of Gurkhas, produces a fine heritage cheese and discovers a monster cracker, which is key to making plastic.