
Michael Portillo continues his rail journey. He looks out across the vast and beautiful Morecambe Bay and joins one of the town’s last shrimpers to learn how potted shrimp is made. At Arnside, he visits a quirky 17th-century garden at Levens Hall, helping to clip its vast topiaries into shape.\n\nAcross the Arnside viaduct, Michael reaches Cartmel, with its 12th-century priory and Michelin-starred restaurant.
Source: BBC 2
Series 3: 20. Wells-next-the-sea To The Wash
Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the eastern reaches of England is drawing to a close. His travels today begin on the smallest public railway in the world, the Wells ...
26-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 19. West Runton To Burnham Market
The oldest and largest mammoth ever found in Britain was discovered by walkers on the beach at West Runton in Norfolk. Michael Portillo examines a replica of the smallest bone i ...
25-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 18. Lowestoft To Great Yarmouth
Michael Portillo’s East Anglian coastal railway journey takes him to the treacherous waters off the Norfolk coast, which have sunk many ships and cost many lives. Michael ...
24-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 17. Woodbridge To Southwold
Michael Portillo reaches the Deben estuary on his coastal railway journey around eastern England. At Woodbridge, he is plunged in at the deep end on a rafting challenge with the ...
23-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 16. Canvey Island To Wrabness
Michael Portillo embarks on a new railway journey around the coast of the east of England. He begins in the Thames estuary, where creeks separate Canvey Island from the mainland ...
22-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 15. Faversham To Chatham
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure zig-zagging the coasts of the English Channel and the Thames estuary nears its end on the north Kent coast. The pretty and historic to ...
21-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 14. Birchington-on-sea To Whitstable
Michael Portillo’s railway exploration of the Channel coastline and Thames estuary via Calais has reached the Isle of Thanet. Flat and temperate, it is excellent terrain f ...
18-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 13. Dover To Margate
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure along the north and south coasts of the English Channel resumes in Dover, where he recalls the biggest evacuation in military history. ...
17-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 12. Folkestone To Le Touquet
Michael Portillo travels through the longest undersea tunnel in the world on the Eurotunnel shuttle rail service from Folkestone to Calais.\n\nIn Calais, Michael is reminded tha ...
16-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 11. Eastbourne To Rye
Michael Portillo sets off on a new railway adventure to explore the twin shores of the English Channel and the estuaries of the Thames and Medway.\n\nAt Cuckmere Haven, he enjoy ...
15-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 2: 12. Ballymena To Carrickfergus
Michael Portillo is in the glens of Antrim, where Ireland’s folklore and magical myths flourish and he is transfixed by tales of fairies and legends of the sea. \n\nAt th ...
13-09-2023
BBC 2
Series 3: 16. Canvey Island To Wrabness
Michael Portillo embarks on a new railway journey around the coast of the east of England. He begins in the Thames estuary, where creeks separate Canvey Island from the mainland ...
22-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 9. The Isle Of Anglesey
Michael Portillo resumes his railway exploration of north Wales on the Isle of Anglesey, where the briny waters of the Menai Strait are being used to create a Welsh gastronomic ...
11-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 1: 6. Inverness To The Cairngorms
Michael Portillo crosses the Culloden Viaduct aboard the Caledonian Sleeper to arrive bright and early in the coastal city of Inverness, from where he heads north on a magnifice ...
13-05-2024
BBC 2
Series 2: 2. Liverpool To Blackpool
From the Isle of Man, Michael Portillo crosses the Irish Sea, bound for the mighty port of Liverpool and its historic waterfront. \n\nAt the International Slavery Museum in Roya ...
22-06-2023
BBC 2
Series 1: 20. Mallaig To Isle Of Lewis And Harris
Michael reaches the terminus of the West Highland Line at Mallaig, from which he follows in the footsteps of Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea to Skye. The island is renowned f ...
31-05-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 20. Wells-next-the-sea To The Wash
Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the eastern reaches of England is drawing to a close. His travels today begin on the smallest public railway in the world, the Wells ...
26-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 2: 9. Hornsea To Spurn Point
Michael Portillo continues his journey in the pretty seaside resort of Hornsea, famous for its distinctive pottery. In Hull, he discovers how one of Hull FC’s star players ...
02-08-2023
BBC 2
Series 3: 3. Tintagel To St Austell
Crossing the River Tamar via Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s magnificent Royal Albert Bridge, Michael leaves Devon for Cornwall and the rugged Atlantic coast of its northern sho ...
03-09-2025
BBC 2
Series 3: 10. Conwy To Colwyn Bay
Michael Portillo takes the train to the medieval walled town of Conwy on the last leg of his exploration of the shores of north Wales.\n\nOn a coastal ridge overlooking the estu ...
12-09-2025
BBC 2