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 town of Faversham is Michael’s first stop and an opportunity to get out on to the water in the last sailing barge to work on the Thames.\n\nMichael spends the night in a cosy cabin on the 3,300-acre Elmley Nature Reserve on the Isle of Sheppey. At Queenborough, Michael visits one of the island’s three prisons, HMP Standford Hill, to hear about its emphasis on rehabilitation.\n\nThe historic town of Chatham on the Medway River is Michael’s next stop. In its dockyard, warships were built to battle the Armada, HMS Victory was constructed and, during the 20th century, submarines such as HMS Ocelot were launched.
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 ...
13-08-2024
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 ...
08-08-2024
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 ...
07-08-2024
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 ...
07-08-2024
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 ...
02-08-2024
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 ...
01-08-2024
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 ...
29-07-2024
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. ...
25-07-2024
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 ...
24-07-2024
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 ...
24-07-2024
BBC 2
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 ...
04-06-2024
BBC 2
Series 1: 16. Fairlie To Port Glasgow
Michael Portillo explores the magnificent western coast of Scotland by rail and ferry, from the Firth of Clyde to the Outer Hebridean island of Lewis and Harris. Travelling aboa ...
27-05-2024
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 ...
05-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 1: 5. Forvie To Peterhead
Michael Portillo’s Scottish railway journey reaches Aberdeen. From the Granite City, Michael heads straight out to a dramatic piece of coastline 18 miles to its north. For ...
10-05-2024
BBC 2
Series 1: 17. Helensburgh To Connel
From the 250-year-old 'new town' of Helensburgh on the north bank of the Clyde, Michael Portillo takes his favourite West Highland Line across epic landscapes to Garelochhead an ...
28-05-2024
BBC 2
Series 1: 24. Carmarthen To Pembroke
Michael Portillo travels the breathtaking rural coastline of Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire in south Wales.\n\nFrom Carmarthen Bay, he tracks up the estuary and River Towy to ...
06-06-2024
BBC 2
Series 2: 6. Middlesbrough To Boulby
Michael Portillo’s coastal railway adventure propels him in search of the unknown universe in Boulby, North Yorkshire. Over a kilometre below the surface of the earth, in ...
18-07-2023
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 ...
10-07-2024
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