Catch up TV

Series 1: 22. Barry Island to Pyle

Michael Portillo continues his south Wales coastal railway journey in Barry Island, where he investigates 'what’s occurring' at the busy docks. The waters upstream of the Barry Island Peninsula are tricky to navigate, and the tides are the second highest in the world. Michael joins a Bristol pilot on his way to help guide a feeder container ship into port, watching with trepidation as the pilot transfers from the cutter to shin up a ladder to the ship’s bridge.\n\nOn the Jurassic shoreline, Michael meets a young girl with a big claim to fame and hears how her internationally significant discovery on the beach at Barry shook the palaeontology community.\n\nSkirting the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, Michael alights at Llantwit Major to visit St Donat’s Castle. Continuously occupied since the 12th century, it’s now home to a school whose students have made an important nautical mark. Michael joins their lifeboat crew for a 'man overboard' drill.\n\nFrom Pyle, Michael reaches the pretty seaside resort of Porthcawl, where he finds an unexpected transatlantic alliance between a black American polymath, famous for his deep baritone voice, and a choir of Welsh miners. At the town’s Grand Pavilion, Michael hears the story of Paul Robeson’s friendship with the Treorchy Male Choir and listens to them sing.

Source: BBC 2