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Great Continental Railway Journeys(TV show/series, 2012-)

1h per episode | Genre: Documentary

Documentation in 7 seasons with 37 episodes

Great Continental Railway JourneysRating: 4.3/5 (with 3 votes)
Great Continental Railway Journeys is a British television documentary series presented by Michael Portillo. In the early series, Portillo explores the railway networks of continental Europe, but in later series he also ventured further afield. He refers to a 1913 copy of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, as he describes how the places he visits have changed since Edwardian times. The first series was originally broadcast on BBC Two in 2012, and the seventh series was first aired in 2020. ()
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About Great Continental Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo travels on the great train routes of Europe, as he retraces the journeys featured in George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide.

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Great Continental Railway Journeys Seasons and Episodes

07/29/2020Season 7 - 6 episodes
Michael Portillo travels on the great train routes of Europe, as he retraces the journeys featured in George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide.
#1 | 07/29/2020Salamanca to Canfranc
Michael Portillo sports a strikingly modern edition of his Bradshaw’s Continental Handbook, dated 1936. His destination lies close to his heart: the ancient kingdom of Spain and land of his father, recommended in Michael’s guidebook for its exceptional climate and glorious history. 1936 was a turbulent time in Spain, with political upheaval descending into a brutal civil war. Michael begins an emotional rail journey, which takes him deep into his family’s past and reveals the tentacles of the regime which forced his father into exile.
#2 | 08/05/2020Orleans to Reims
Michael Portillo travels from the chateaux of the Loire Valley to the heart of the Champagne region at Reims. Beginning in historic Orleans, Michael follows his Bradshaw’s guide to the magnificent stained-glass windows of the Cathedral of Sainte-Croix, which tell the story of the heroine of France, Joan of Arc. The image of the saintly teenage warrior endures as a symbol of resistance, and her life is celebrated in an annual parade. Michael meets her modern-day incarnation.
#3 | 08/12/2020Berlin to Stuttgart
Michael Portillo embarks on a rail journey through Germany, steered by a Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide published in 1936. His unique window on Europe between the world wars takes him through a tumultuous period in German history, when the nation’s first democracy and its vibrant culture of art, design and decadence were swept away by fascism, nationalism and the increasing likelihood of war. In a vast stadium, Michael hears how new rail lines were constructed to transport crowds of spectators to the Nazi Olympic Games of 1936. Michael learns how a planned boycott by the United States and other European nations failed and how the success of a black American athlete undermined the Nazi ideology of Aryan superiority.
#4 | 08/19/2020Palermo to Mt Etna
Michael Portillo’s 1936 Bradshaw’s Guide brings him to the Italian 'treasure island' of Sicily, full of natural beauty and 'scenery of the greatest charm'. But the interwar guide book also tells Michael that the head of government in Italy is the fascist leader Signor Benito Mussolini. On a railway journey from the capital, Palermo, through the ancient town of Agrigento and the port of Siracusa, to Europe’s largest volcano, Mount Etna, Michael explores Sicilian life under the dictatorship. Michael finds out how the dictator took on the mafia and asks whether it is true that under Mussolini, the trains ran on time.
#5 | 09/02/2020Linz to Bratislava
Michael Portillo travels by train through Austria and the Czech Republic, following his Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, published in 1936. Michael’s journey takes him through spectacular scenery, from the handsome Baroque buildings of the northern Austrian city of Linz, through Czech South Bohemia to Prague, the city of a hundred spires, and onto the canyons and caves of the Moravian Karst region near Brno. He finishes on the River Danube in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava.
#6 | 09/10/2020Stockholm to the Arctic Circle
Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic, thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle. Steered by his 1936 edition of Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide, Michael boards a steam train to celebrate Midsummer in Marielund, learns to decorate a Dala horse in Mora and takes an icy dip in one of the country’s 96,000 lakes.
03/08/2018Season 6 - 2 episodes
09/20/2016Season 5 - 6 episodes
10/16/2015Season 4 - 6 episodes
11/05/2014Season 3 - 6 episodes
10/27/2013Season 2 - 6 episodes
11/08/2012Season 1 - 5 episodes

Additional Information

Official websites:
Production country: United Kingdom (UK)
Original language: English (EN)
Spoken languages: English (EN)
Translated into 8 languages: English (EN), Spanish (ES), Finnish (FI), French (FR), Hungarian (HU), Italian (IT), Russian (RU), Chinese (Mandarin) (ZH)
Status: Returning series
First episode released on: 11/08/2012
Latest episode released on: 09/10/2020
Presenter/Host: Michael Portillo
Alternative titles in other countries (from previews, ads etc.):
"乘着火车游欧洲"
"坐着火车游欧洲"
"欧洲铁路纪行"
"En tren por el viejo continente"
"Junamatka Eurooppaan"
"Les trains du monde"
"Nagy kontinentális vasúti utazások"
"Trans Europe Express"
"Vel'ké kontinentálne cesty po zeleznici"
Keywords: railroad, travel, europe

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WatchPlayStream ID: SHOWS:13069, Added: 05/13/2018, Last updated: 03/12/2024