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Series 6: 2. Greenock to Larkhall
Source: BBC 2
Most recent episodes of Great British Railway Journeys
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 14: 6. Tilbury To Barbican
Michael Portillo travels through the Britain of his youth from London’s Docklands and East End to the ‘city within a city’, the Barbican. \n\nAt Tilbury, he t ...
29-01-2026
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 14: 5. Bradford To Hebden Bridge
Michael Portillo continues his postwar exploration of north west England in Bradford, Shipley and Hebden Bridge.\n\nIn Centenary Square in Bradford, Michael encounters Bradford& ...
28-01-2026
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
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
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 14: 3. Oldham To Wakefield
Greater Manchester’s Metrolink tram delivers Michael to the former cotton town of Oldham on the edge of the Peak District. In the stalls of the Oldham Coliseum, the town&r ...
22-01-2026
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 14: 2. Urmston To New Islington
Michael Portillo’s railway journey through north west England from Preston to Hebden Bridge reaches Greater Manchester, where Michael celebrates new beginnings for the nat ...
21-01-2026
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 14: 1. Preston To Rawtenstall
Michael Portillo strikes out to explore the Britain of his youth. He’s a 'boomer', born in the decade after the end of the Second World War, and he recalls the optimism an ...
20-01-2026
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 16: 20. Colchester To Chappel And Wakes Colne
Michael's exploration of Essex is drawing to a close. He visits Colchester, which was first mentioned in AD 77 and proudly claims to be Britain’s oldest recorded town. He ...
11-10-2025
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 16: 19. Witham To Saffron Walden
Arriving in the Essex market town of Witham, Michael heads into the countryside to visit Terling Place, one of the county’s great country houses. He hears how in the late ...
04-10-2025
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 16: 18. Chelmsford To Tollesbury
Michael Portillo’s exploration of Essex reaches Chelmsford. At a huge construction site on the outskirts of the city he discovers Beaulieu Park, the first railway station ...
27-09-2025
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 16: 17. Romford To The Blackwater Estuary
Michael’s exploration of Essex continues in Romford. He arrives on the London Overground’s Liberty Line to visit a state-of-the-art rail operating centre responsible ...
20-09-2025
BBC 2
Most popular episodes of Great British Railway Journeys
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 1 - Liverpool To Eccles
Michael Portillo journeys around Britain by train. He learns to speak Scouse in Liverpool and finds out about the first railway fatality.
29-09-2014
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 12: 15. Aberystwyth To Newtown
Armed with his 1930s Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael travels from Aberystwyth into the Cambrian Mountains at Devil’s Bridge and finishes in Newtown, Powys.\n\nIn the elega ...
09-06-2025
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
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
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 10: 6. Newry To Portadown
Steered by his Edwardian Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo navigates his way by rail – and ferry - across Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands from Newry to ...
11-06-2024
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 12: 3. West Ruislip To Windsor
Michael Portillo heads for leafy Hatch End, where he investigates an illustrator whose work was so popular in the 1920s and 30s that his name entered the English dictionary. Wil ...
14-05-2025
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 5 - Winchfield To Crowthorne
Michael Portillo's journey continues in a military vein, as he views the Duke of Wellington's funeral carriage and visits the army camp at Aldershot.
09-09-2014
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 10: 8. Larne To Dumfries
Michael Portillo continues his journey from Northern Ireland across the water to Scotland. Leaving from the seaport of Larne he reaches Stranraer and the Mull of Galloway, where ...
08-07-2024
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 14: 3. Oldham To Wakefield
Greater Manchester’s Metrolink tram delivers Michael to the former cotton town of Oldham on the edge of the Peak District. In the stalls of the Oldham Coliseum, the town&r ...
22-01-2026
BBC 2
Great British Railway Journeys
Series 5 - Cheltenham To Wolverhampton
On the final leg of his journey, Michael Portillo joins battle re-enactors in Tewkesbury before reaching his destination of Wolverhampton.
16-09-2014
BBC 2