
Michael Portillo is in the Scottish Highlands on the last leg of his rail journey through 1930s Britain. He begins in Elgin's port, the coastal town of Lossiemouth, where James Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Party's first prime minister was born. Michael meets his granddaughter to visit the family home and discovers what shaped his politics.\n\nOn the outskirts of Lossiemouth, Michael finds a remote boarding school established in the 1930s and famous today both for its unusual ideas and its royal former pupils. He hears how the school's founder fled Nazi Germany and joins its fully-working fire service, manned entirely by pupils, for training.\n\nMichael's last stop is the city of Inverness, where first he uncovers the work of female photographer MEM Donaldson. She documented a Highland way of life that was rapidly disappearing at the time of his guide.\n\nMichael's journey ends at one of the most notorious bodies of water in the world, Loch Ness. He joins the Deep Scan research team as they scour the deep for signs of the elusive monster.
Source: BBC 2
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Series 15: 8. Shawlands To Livingston
Michael Portillo continues his postwar Scottish railway adventure, this time from Glasgow to the capital, Edinburgh.\n\nAt Pollok Country Park in Glasgow, Michael joins a women& ...
22-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 15: 7. Glasgow To Cumbernauld
At 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. ...
21-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 15: 6. Loch Lomond To Kelvinbridge
Michael 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. \n\nAt the head ...
16-07-2026
BBC 2
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
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
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
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
Series 5 - Chippenham To Gloucester
Michael Portillo's journey to Wolverhampton continues. He visits Clifton Zoo in Bristol and finds out why Gloucester station became known for lost luggage.
15-09-2014
BBC 2
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
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
Series 2 - Lochailort To Skye
Michael discovers how the railways helped train commandos at Lochailort in World War II, and explores the history of the highland crofters in Skye.
02-07-2014
BBC 2
Series 16: 17. Romford To The Blackwater Estuary
Michael’s exploration of Essex continues in Romford. He arrives on the London Overground’s Liberty Line to visit a state-of-the-art rail operating centre responsible ...
20-09-2025
BBC 2