Great Continental Railway Journeys Catch up, Series 7: 3. Berlin to Stuttgart on BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 7: 3. Berlin 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.\n\nIn 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.\n\nAt the Museum of Modern Art in Berlin’s Kreuzberg, Michael sees how a leading artist of the era, George Grosz, warned of the rise of fascism in a haunting self-portrait. Michael goes to the movies in Potsdam and discovers the success of the Babelsberg Studios, where directors such as Fritz Lang and stars such as Marlene Dietrich worked. He hears how production was taken over by the Nazis for propaganda.\n\nIn the Schöneberg district of the capital, Michael researches the decadent night scene of the 1920s, where sexual freedoms attracted gay and lesbian visitors from across the world. Michael sees how cabaret culture is being revived today - a burlesque performance is on the bill.\n\nAt the birthplace of German democracy in Weimar, Michael investigates the beginnings of Bauhaus design and visits the movement’s first building – a single-family house which went beyond a statement of style to present a vision of how people would live in the 20th century.\n\nTravelling with author Julia Boyd to Nuremberg, Michael discovers that during the 1930s, despite the First World War and the Third Reich, Britons and Americans loved Germany and German culture. Michael hears how one Briton above all was welcomed by Hitler to Germany - the Duke of Windsor, former King Edward VIII.\n\nIn the medieval Bavarian city of Nuremberg, Michael visits the monumental buildings and parade grounds, which were the stage for vast Nazi rallies to publicise the regime around the world and arouse popular support at home. Michael finishes in Stuttgart, where an ambitious engineering project is under way, which will integrate the city into a high-speed train route connecting Paris with Bratislava.\n\nMichael bags a ride in a high-performance Porsche to the manufacturer’s Stuttgart headquarters and discovers that in the 1930s, the founder designed an affordable car for mass production – the Beetle.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 11. Maienfeld To The Rhine Gorge

Michael Portillo is transported 150 years back in time to the tiny Alpine village home of Switzerland’s most famous child, Heidi. In Davos, he follows in the footsteps of ...

08-08-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 10. Roskilde To Copenhagen

Michael Portillo concludes his epic rail journey across southern Norway, the Jutland Peninsula and the Danish archipelago. He crosses one of Europe’s epic rail engineering ...

01-08-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 9. Aarhus To Odense

Michael Portillo’s Scandinavian rail adventure reaches Denmark’s second city, Aarhus, an architectural playground with dazzling contemporary buildings set alongside ...

25-07-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 8. Larvik To Holstebro

Michael Portillo’s saga through Norway and Denmark resumes in Larvik on Norway’s southern coast, where he investigates the city’s prized natural resource, a di ...

18-07-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 7. Myrdal To Heddal

Michael Portillo’s rail journey continues on the Bergen Line, heading towards the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Carving through the mountains across some of Europe’s mo ...

11-07-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 6. Bergen To Flåm

Michael Portillo embarks on a Scandinavian railway adventure from the Norwegian port of Bergen to the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Spectacular scenery lines his route along two ...

04-07-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 5. Mostar To Dubrovnik

Michael Portillo is on the last stretch of his railway adventure through the Balkan countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. He enjoys a helter-skelter journey on the hi ...

27-06-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 4. Sarajevo

In Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Portillo traces the fateful last journey in 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, which ended in the ...

20-06-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 3. Knin To Split

Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches the Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar, once an important Venetian trading hub and still a centre for the production of a Venetia ...

13-06-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Series 8: 2. Buzet To Pag

Ably assisted by Lila, an expert labrador, Michael Portillo hunts for truffles in the Istrian countryside near the hilltop town of Buzet. His railway adventure through the Balka ...

06-06-2025

BBC 2

All episodes