
Michael Portillo has reached Lincolnshire, where his coastal railway journey from Middlesbrough ends. In Grimsby, he investigates an important new stage in the town’s history - as a maintenance base for some of the largest wind farms in the world.\n\nIn neighbouring Cleethorpes, Michael is excited to ride on the Cleethorpes Coast Light Railway, pulled by a miniature steam locomotive, and on the shores of the mighty Humber estuary, Michael meets the Humber King, who holds the record for swimming across the Humber.\n\nFrom Cleethorpes, Michael makes for a curious and wild stretch of coastline at Humberston. At Young’s, he learns how half of all scampi produced in the UK is made – and tries it himself.
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 3: 6. Cardigan Bay To Abergynolwyn
Michael Portillo embarks on a railway journey around the ragged rocks of the western coast of Wales. He begins on the Victorian Cliff Railway at Aberystwyth, rising above the hi ...
08-09-2025
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 2: 17. Kimmeridge To Brownsea Island
Michael alights at Wareham to visit Dorset’s internationally renowned Jurassic Coast. Exploring the geology, he discovers black gold locked into its rocks and visits one o ...
18-10-2023
BBC 2
Series 2: 8. Scarborough To Bridlington
Michael Portillo is in the seaside resort of Scarborough to explore one of the greatest royal fortresses in England, before heading to the beautiful neoclassical Rotunda Museum, ...
04-08-2023
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 2: 13. Bangor To Belfast
Michael Portillo is in Bangor, County Down, en route to the Northern Irish capital, Belfast. Admiring the handsome waterfront houses, he recalls the resort’s prosperity af ...
20-09-2023
BBC 2
Series 2: 18. Southampton To Isle Of Wight
Michael is in Southampton, one of the busiest ports on the south coast of England and home to the National Oceanography Centre. From the port, Michael takes a ferry to the Isle ...
25-10-2023
BBC 2
Series 1: 7. Cullen To Cawdor
Beginning today on the Moray Firth, Michael admires the impressive Cullen viaduct before enjoying a bowl of Cullen skink at a family-run fishmonger of 150 years’ standing. ...
14-05-2024
BBC 2
Series 2: 4. Ulverston To Ravenglass
Michael Portillo is in Cumbria, enjoying one of the most spectacular coastal railway journeys in Britain.\n\nIn Ulverston, he sets sail in a small craft with a lifelong devotee ...
05-07-2023
BBC 2
Series 2: 5. St Bees To Maryport
On the last leg of his railway journey around the north west coast of England, Michael meets a lifelong fan of Alfred Wainwright’s famous guidebooks and takes the first st ...
10-07-2023
BBC 2