Great British Railway Journeys
8.1
2010
Documentary
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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- Cast:
- Michael Portillo
Episode 20 : Exmouth to Newton Abbot
February. 01,2013
Michael takes to sea with the heroes of the RNLI, visits a stormy coastal railway and has a close personal encounter with his boyhood hero.
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Episode 19 : Lynton and Lynmouth to Exeter
January. 31,2013
Michael gets up close to a piece of natural history, visits a garden used as a viewing platform for public hangings and experiences a timepiece like no other.
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Episode 18 : Taunton to Minehead
January. 30,2013
Michael explores a church that moves in mysterious ways, finds out just what it takes to run a 19th century signal box and summons all his strength, to move a one hundred and ten tonne steam locomotive.
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Episode 17 : Salisbury to Castle Cary
January. 29,2013
Michael visits a world famous tourist hotspot that's been captivating visitors since the Victorian era, takes to the air in Yeovil and tries his hand at cloth making, the 19th century way.
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Episode 16 : London Paddington to Warminster
January. 28,2013
Michael gets to grips with the old grey matter at a Victorian asylum, gives an historic horse a facelift and makes malt the 19th century way.
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Episode 10 : Spalding to Grimsby
January. 18,2013
Michael learns about how Lincolnshire farmers utilised rails to improve their harvests, visiting the impressive cathedral in Lincoln and looking to the future of rail freight.
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Episode 9 : London King's Cross to Peterborough
January. 17,2013
Michael Portillo discovers how derelict Victorian London is being rejuvenated. Furthermore he works in a shift at a Cambridgeshire brick factory and meets members of an immigrant community linked to it.
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Episode 8 : London Victoria to Abbey Wood
January. 16,2013
Michael learns how volunteer Victorian firefighters liked a tipple, discovers that 19th-century sewage pumps were a marvel of design and puts in a shift at the oldest fish market in Britain.
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Episode 7 : Woking to Clapham Junction
January. 15,2013
Michael Portillo travels from Woking in Surrey to Clapham Junction in south London. Along the way he gets close to some precious Victorian botany at Kew Gardens, tries his hand at croquet and discovers a very surprising 19th-century place of worship.
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Episode 6 : Portsmouth to Gomshall
January. 14,2013
Michael Portillo embarks on the next stage of his journey in which he travels from the naval hub of Portsmouth to Grimsby docks. On the first leg, he helps feed the crew of Britain's newest battleship, discovers how the Victorians planned to repel a possible French invasion and learns there is a well-established industry in an unlikely location.
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Episode 5 : Welshpool to Aberystwyth
January. 11,2013
Michael Portillo travels from Welshpool, Powys, to Aberystwyth in Ceredigion. He experiences Victorian entertainment in one of Wales's best-loved resorts, hears how the railways took the country's textiles into the most exclusive households and unleashes the power of a 19th-century engineering triumph.
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Episode 4 : Dudley to Bridgnorth
January. 10,2013
Michael Portillo travels from Dudley in the West Midlands to Bridgnorth, Shropshire. He learns how Victorian blacksmithing was not for the faint-hearted, rides on one of Britain's most modern trains and traverses the Victoria Bridge at Bewdley in Worcestershire.
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Episode 3 : Stoke-on-Trent to Winsford
January. 09,2013
Michael Portillo travels from Stoke-on-Trent to Winsford, Cheshire, finding out about one of the greatest locomotive factories in railway history along the way. He also discovers the dark side of the Industrial Revolution and learns how Victorian potteries brought their products to the masses.
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Episode 2 : Birmingham to Stafford
January. 08,2013
Michael Portillo learns how the railways helped to make Birmingham the pen-making capital of the world, hears the chilling tale of one of 19th-century Britain's most notorious murderers and samples delicacies concocted in a Victorian kitchen at Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire.
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Episode 1 : High Wycombe to Stratford-upon-Avon
January. 07,2013
Michael Portillo embarks on another journey around the nation with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook to discover how the railways have affected people and what remains of Bradshaw's Britain. He begins by travelling from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, to Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, finding out about the remarkable craftsmen behind the Victorian furniture trade, discovering how George Bradshaw helped save Britain's canal heritage and seeing Shakespeare through the eyes of a 19th-century rail tourist.
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