Great British Railway Journeys Catch up, Series 13: 9. Dagenham to Battersea on BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 13: 9. Dagenham to Battersea

Armed with his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide, Michael is in London, where he tracks the River Thames from east to west. Michael is drawn to the industrial eastern suburb by the unexpected sound of pipes. He finds their origins in a Sunday school band for girls begun by a cleric in the 1930s. Still going strong, the Dagenham Girl Pipers explain their history and success, as well as treating Michael to a performance of Tipperary.\n\nAboard a Thames Rocket boat, Michael finds out how the river is both the lifeblood of and an existential threat to the capital. He hears how a great flood claimed 14 lives in 1928 and investigates how London is protected today on a visit to the Thames Barrier.\n\nMichael finishes this leg of his tour at one of London’s most iconic buildings, Battersea Power Station, built during the 1930s by Giles Gilbert Scott. Michael hears how Battersea once produced a fifth of London’s electricity. He discovers its inner workings and decorative detail and hears what the future holds for the former Cathedral of Power, now undergoing a £9 billion redevelopment.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 16: 3. Dorking To Lingfield

Michael Portillo’s railway tour of the Weald reaches the spectacular Surrey countryside, where he finds a surprising connection to the darker reaches of the universe.\n\nI ...

02-09-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 16: 2. Hildenborough To Robertsbridge

Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the historic wooded region of south east England, known as the Weald, continues from Tonbridge, at the heart of the area's rail netw ...

01-09-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 16: 1. Paddock Wood To Frant

Michael Portillo takes to the rails to explore one of Britain’s oldest surviving landscapes, the woods and pasture of the Weald in south east England. Between the chalk hi ...

31-08-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 15. Northallerton To Chester-le-street

Michael Portillo confronts a detachment of Gurkhas, produces a fine heritage cheese and discovers a monster cracker that is key to making plastic, before ending his postwar jour ...

06-08-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 14. York To Skipton

Michael Portillo’s postwar exploration of Merseyside to Teesside finds him in York, a paradise for rail enthusiasts. In the company of some of the most famous locomotives ...

05-08-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 13. Lincoln To York

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 Lin ...

04-08-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 12. Derby To Nottingham

Michael Portillo reaches the jet age in the Derby suburb of Peartree, where he tours the engineering colossus Rolls-Royce. In Derby city centre, Michael is on the trail of littl ...

30-07-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 11. Liverpool To Uttoxeter

Michael Portillo twists and shouts through postwar Liverpool, arriving in the city where the 60s burst into life to find the strikingly contemporary concrete and glass Liverpool ...

29-07-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 10. Dundee To Loch Of The Lowes

Michael’s rail journey through postwar Scotland takes him over the River Tay to Dundee on the trail of Joseph McKenzie, the father of modern Scottish photography.\n\nIn Pe ...

28-07-2026

BBC 2

All episodes

Great British Railway Journeys

Series 15: 9. Edinburgh To Queensferry

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. On ...

23-07-2026

BBC 2

All episodes