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Great British Railway Journeys(TV show/series, 2010-)

30min per episode | Genre: Documentary

Documentation in 14 seasons with 255 episodes

Great British Railway JourneysRating: 3.8/5 (with 5 votes)
Great British Railway Journeys is a 2010–present BBC documentary series presented by Michael Portillo, a former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister who was instrumental in saving the Settle to Carlisle line from closure in 1989. The documentary was first broadcast in 2010 on BBC Two and has returned annually for a current total of 14 series. The series features Portillo travelling around the railway networks of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man, referring to Bradshaw's Guide and comparing how the various destinations have changed since; initially, he used an 1840s copy, but in later series, he used other editions. Portillo has presented 8 other series with a similar format: Great Continental Railway Journeys (7 series; 2012–2020), Great American Railroad Journeys (4 series; 2016–2020), Great Indian Railway Journeys (2018), Great Alaskan Railroad Journeys and Great Canadian Railway Journeys (broadcast consecutively in January 2019), Great Australian Railway Journeys (2019), Great Asian Railway Journeys (2020) and Great Coastal Railway Journeys (2022). ()
Poster of Great British Railway Journeys

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About Great British Railway Journeys

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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Great British Railway Journeys Seasons and Episodes

06/19/2023Season 14 - 15 episodes
Documentary series in which Michael Portillo travels the country by train.
#1 | 06/19/2023Preston to Rawtenstall
Michael Portillo strikes out to explore the Britain of his youth, starting at Preston’s Fulwood Barracks and heading across to Bury Bolton Street station in Greater Manchester.
#2 | 06/20/2023Urmston to New Islington
Michael’s journey through north west England from Preston to Hebden Bridge reaches Greater Manchester, where Michael celebrates new beginnings for the nation in the years after the Second World War.
#3 | 06/21/2023Oldham to Wakefield
Greater Manchester’s Metrolink tram delivers Michael to the former cotton town of Oldham. He heads across to Wakefield and the striking postwar sculptures of Barbara Hepworth.
#4 | 06/22/2023Wakefield to Leeds
From Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Michael visits the National Coal Mining Museum for England at Caphouse Colliery. He pauses to admire the tall spire of Wakefield Cathedral and its resident peregrine falcons before heading to the banks of the River Calder. In a vast factory, he finds the headquarters of a shirt manufacturer, Double Two, a pioneering wartime business co-founded by a Jewish refugee from Austria. In Leeds, Michael heads for the Chapeltown area to investigate the origins of the Leeds West Indian Carnival in 1967 and try his hand on the steel drums. In the city's Harehills district, he admires the back-to-back houses once condemned as slums but now highly prized for their character and community.
#5 | 06/24/2023Bradford to Hebden Bridge
Michael Portillo continues his postwar exploration of north west England in Bradford, Shipley and Hebden Bridge. In Centenary Square in Bradford, Michael encounters Bradford’s literary giant JB Priestley, author of An Inspector Calls. Just north of Bradford, at Shipley station, Michael discovers a nature reserve in the middle of a car park that's home to more than 14 species of butterfly and moth.
#6 | 06/26/2023Tilbury to Barbican
Michael Portillo travels through the Britain of his youth from London’s Docklands and East End to the ‘city within a city’, the Barbican.
#7 | 06/27/2023Waterloo to Regent's Park
Michael Portillo continues his railway exploration of the post-war Britain of his youth on a journey from London to Cambridge, starting at South Bank.
#8 | 06/28/2023Paddington to Ongar
Michael Portillo ventures deep underground onto London’s newest railway: the Elizabeth Line. He travels across London before transferring to the Epping Ongar Heritage Railway.
#9 | 06/29/2023Felixstowe to Norwich
Michael Portillo continues his rail exploration of the east of England, starting on the seafront of Felixstowe and finishing in the plate glass campus of the University of East Anglia.
#10 | 06/30/2023Brandon to Cambridge
Michael Portillo completes his railway journey through the east of England during the post-war period, heading from RAF Lakenheath to the city of Cambridge.
#11 | 07/17/2023Derby to Hinckley
Michael Portillo explores the postwar Britain of his youth on a railway journey from the Midlands to the West Country, beginning in the city of Derby.
#12 | 07/18/2023Coventry to Leamington Spa
In Coventry, Michael recalls the destruction by the Luftwaffe of the city’s Gothic cathedral in November 1940, before heading to Leamington Spa to visit the Guide Dogs for the Blind National Centre.
#13 | 07/19/2023Long Itchington to Moseley
Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the heart of the Warwickshire countryside, where work is underway the biggest project of new railway infrastructure in Britain for a hundred years: HS2.
#14 | 07/20/2023Wolverhampton to Cheltenham
At the African and Caribbean Heritage Centre in Wolverhampton, Michael finds out about the impact of Enoch Powell's 1968 speech on immigration in Wolverhampton and across the nation.
#15 | 07/21/2023Tewkesbury to Filton
Michael visits the fairy-tale castle of Eastnor at the foot of the Malvern Hills, before heading to the Severn Estuary and Filton, the centre of Britain's postwar aviation industry.
05/17/2021Season 13 - 10 episodes
04/26/2021Season 12 - 15 episodes
01/06/2020Season 11 - 15 episodes
02/04/2019Season 10 - 15 episodes
01/01/2018Season 9 - 15 episodes
01/02/2017Season 8 - 15 episodes
01/04/2016Season 7 - 20 episodes
01/05/2015Series 6 - 20 episodes
01/06/2014Series 5 - 20 episodes
01/07/2013Series 4 - 25 episodes
01/02/2012Series 3 - 25 episodes
01/03/2011Series 2 - 25 episodes
01/04/2010Series 1 - 20 episodes
?Specials - 2 episodes

Additional Information

Official websites:
Production country: United Kingdom (UK)
Original language: English (EN)
Spoken languages: English (EN)
Translated into 3 languages: English (EN), French (FR), Chinese (Mandarin) (ZH)
Status: Returning series
First episode released on: 01/04/2010
Latest episode released on: 07/21/2023
Presenter/Host: Michael Portillo
Alternative titles in other countries (from previews, ads etc.):
"BBC Great British Railway Journeys"
Keywords: railroad

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Similar TV shows/series

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Great Indian Railway Journeys

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WatchPlayStream ID: SHOWS:9004, Added: 05/12/2018, Last updated: 03/11/2024