Catch up TV

This episode is currently not available.

Series 8: 16. Nantes to Lorient



Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful and historic regions of Brittany and Normandy and learns of their connections with Great Britain. \n\nHe begins in Nantes, where he contends with the fantastical creatures that stalk the city’s former shipbuilding yards, among them a giant sloth, a vast spider and a huge heron. The mechanical monsters are inspired by the science fiction writing of Jules Verne, born in Nantes in 1828. At the castle of the dukes of Brittany, Michael discovers the city was once capital of the independent medieval Duchy of Brittany. He follows the trail of the region’s defiant defender, the Duchess Anne. \n\nOn the tiny island of Gavrinis, in the Gulf of Morbihan, Michael investigates a rounded stone cairn, which conceals an elaborately decorated burial chamber built 6,000 years ago. At the port of Lorient, Michael discovers the enormous German submarine base from which the Nazis directed the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 20. Lisieux To Giverny

Series 8: 20. Lisieux To Giverny

In the apple orchards of the Calvados region, Michael Portillo discovers how the classic digestif has been distilled since 1865 at the Pierre Huet estate. Over a selection of vi ...

04-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 19. Bayeux To Argentan

Series 8: 19. Bayeux To Argentan

At the medieval town of Bayeux, Michael Portillo heads for the Bayeux Tapestry Museum to admire the striking 70-metre-long work of art commissioned to record William the Conquer ...

03-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 18. Rennes To Mont Saint-michel

Series 8: 18. Rennes To Mont Saint-michel

Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches Rennes, capital of Brittany. At the Lycee Emile Zola, he hears how, in 1899, the school was used as a military court for the s ...

02-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 17. Brest To St Brieuc

Series 8: 17. Brest To St Brieuc

Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France’s oceanographic fleet. Aboard the pride of the fleet, the 107-metre-long Pourquoi ...

01-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 16. Nantes To Lorient

Series 8: 16. Nantes To Lorient

Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful and historic regions of Brittany and Normandy and learns of th ...

31-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 15. Zweisimmen To Lausanne

Series 8: 15. Zweisimmen To Lausanne

Aboard the Golden Pass Express, Michael Portillo wends his way in style down steep mountainsides from Interlaken to the Swiss Riviera.\n\nIn Lausanne, he contends with a knife-w ...

28-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 14. Rotkreuz To Brienz

Series 8: 14. Rotkreuz To Brienz

Michael Portillo scales the Swiss Alps on one of the steepest cog railways in the world and marvels at the Pilatus Railway’s unique track design, which defies an astonishi ...

27-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 13. Zurich

Series 8: 13. Zurich

In Zurich, Michael Portillo has a brush with the absurd in the anarchic paintings and artistic haunts of the Dadaists, a group of artists who found refuge in the city during the ...

26-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 12. Sedrun To Schwyz

Series 8: 12. Sedrun To Schwyz

Michael Portillo ventures into the bowels of an immense hydroelectric dam to learn how the Swiss use their mountainous environment to power the country.\n\nHe winds his way by r ...

25-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 11. Maienfeld To The Rhine Gorge

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 ...

24-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Most popular episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 2

Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 2

Michael continues his rail journey through Spain with his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide. At the Museo Reina Sofia, Michael hears how the bombing of a small town in the Basque reg ...

24-06-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 13. Zurich

Series 8: 13. Zurich

In Zurich, Michael Portillo has a brush with the absurd in the anarchic paintings and artistic haunts of the Dadaists, a group of artists who found refuge in the city during the ...

26-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 19. Bayeux To Argentan

Series 8: 19. Bayeux To Argentan

At the medieval town of Bayeux, Michael Portillo heads for the Bayeux Tapestry Museum to admire the striking 70-metre-long work of art commissioned to record William the Conquer ...

03-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 17. Brest To St Brieuc

Series 8: 17. Brest To St Brieuc

Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France’s oceanographic fleet. Aboard the pride of the fleet, the 107-metre-long Pourquoi ...

01-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 20. Lisieux To Giverny

Series 8: 20. Lisieux To Giverny

In the apple orchards of the Calvados region, Michael Portillo discovers how the classic digestif has been distilled since 1865 at the Pierre Huet estate. Over a selection of vi ...

04-04-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 3 - Reversions: 7. La Coruna To Lisbon - Part 1

Series 3 - Reversions: 7. La Coruna To Lisbon - Part 1

15-03-2019

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 7: 3. Berlin To Stuttgart

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 wo ...

13-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 4 - Reversions: 7. Athens To Thessaloniki - Part 1

Series 4 - Reversions: 7. Athens To Thessaloniki - Part 1

08-07-2019

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 16. Nantes To Lorient

Series 8: 16. Nantes To Lorient

Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful and historic regions of Brittany and Normandy and learns of th ...

31-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great Continental Railway Journeys

Great Continental Railway Journeys - Series 8: 6. Bergen To Flåm

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 ...

17-03-2025

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

© 2025 - Catchupplayer.co.uk