
Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the heart of the Warwickshire countryside, where work is underway on a section of the biggest project of new railway infrastructure in Britain for a hundred years: HS2.\n\nIn the Tudor town of Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, Michael visits the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, home since 1961 to the Royal Shakespeare Company.\n\nIn Birmingham, Michael recalls the redevelopment of the whole city centre during the 1960s and the arrival of black and Asian communities in areas where he once tried to enter parliament. In the Prince of Wales pub in Handsworth, he investigates the fusion of Asian and British cultural influences which produced modern Bhangra music. \n\nMichael finishes this leg of his railway journey in the leafy suburb of Moseley, where in order to combat the housing shortage after the Second World War, prefabricated houses were put up - and, in some cases, remain to this day.
Source: 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: 5. Wokingham To Heathrow
Michael begins the final leg of his journey at the Transport Research Laboratory in Wokingham, where they have been keeping Britain’s roads safe for 90 years. From Reading ...
15-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 15: 4. Havant To Guildford
Michael Portillo reaches Havant, a town that rapidly expanded after the Second World War and attracted new manufacturing, including a factory making a new and exciting toy &ndas ...
14-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 15: 3. Swanage To Portchester
Michael Portillo reaches England’s south coast to continue his exploration of postwar Britain. He begins in Dorset on the Swanage Railway, riding a glorious 1940s steam lo ...
12-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 15: 2. Chippenham To Yeovil
Michael Portillo joins Navy Wings pilots for a spectacular close formation flight in the skies over Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton. He also visits the magnificent Elizabethan ...
12-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 15: 1. Denham To Swindon
Beginning at London Marylebone, the last great Victorian railway terminus to be built in the capital, Michael Portillo embarks on a postwar exploration of Britain’s southe ...
11-07-2026
BBC 2
Series 14: 15. Tewkesbury To Filton
Michael Portillo is on the last leg of his railway journey from the train-building city of Derby to the aircraft manufacturing base of Filton. From Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, ...
19-02-2026
BBC 2
Series 14: 4. Wakefield To Leeds
From Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Michael visits the National Coal Mining Museum for England at Caphouse Colliery. He pauses to admire the tall spire of Wakefield Cathedral and it ...
27-01-2026
BBC 2
Series 1 - Swindon To Bristol
Michael Portillo finds out about free holiday trains for the GWR workers in Swindon, samples the spa in Bath and tries his hand at glass blowing in Bristol.
14-10-2014
BBC 2
Series 16: 12. Ironbridge To Coseley
Michael Portillo is in Ironbridge Gorge on the River Severn, where he discovers the Silicon Valley of the 18th century. Exploring this hotbed of industrial innovation, he takes ...
27-08-2025
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 14: 8. Paddington To Ongar
Michael Portillo ventures deep underground onto London’s newest railway: the Elizabeth Line. Emerging into the sunshine in Bedford Square, he recalls the choking smogs whi ...
04-02-2026
BBC 2
Series 2 - Batley To Sheffield
Michael Portillo finds out about shoddy, a successful 19th-century recycling industry in the textile town of Batley, and meets a descendant of George Bradshaw.
10-06-2014
BBC 2
Series 16: 11. Shrewsbury To Telford
Sharp as an arrow and armed with a longbow, Michael Portillo re-enacts the Battle of Shrewsbury, fought at the Shropshire village of Battlefield in 1403. He hears how the rebel ...
22-08-2025
BBC 2
Series 12: 9. Sawbridgeworth To Cambridge
Steered by his Bradshaw’s guide, Michael Portillo heads for the Hertfordshire village of Perry Green, where, in 1940, a young couple fleeing the bombing of London chose to ...
26-05-2025
BBC 2
Series 11: 1. Newcastle To County Durham
Michael Portillo begins a new series of railway journeys through 1930s Britain, armed with an interwar Bradshaw's guide. He explores an unmistakably modern era of glamorous loco ...
01-08-2024
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