Catch up TV

This episode is currently not available.

Series 9: 15. Criccieth to Caernarfon



With his Edwardian Bradshaw's railway guide tucked under his arm, Michael Portillo begins the last leg of his journey from Hull to Caernarfon. In picturesque Snowdonia, he braves the fastest zip line in the world - stretching 1,500 feet across a vast slate quarry. He uncovers a bitter industrial dispute between quarrymen and the owner of the pit, Lord Penrhyn, which divided the community at the beginning of the 20th century.\n\nRiding north Wales's splendid heritage railways, Michael visits the home of British mountaineering, Pen y Gwryd, to hear how an Edwardian journalist and poet created a climbing community, which grew to include men who would conquer Everest in the 1950s. Michael meets the grandson of one of his political heroes, the Edwardian Prime Minister David Lloyd George, at his birthplace in Criccieth. At the impressive 13th-century fortress of Caernarfon, built by English King Edward I, Michael discovers the early 20th-century history behind the ceremony now traditional at the royal investiture of a Prince of Wales.

Source: BBC 2

Most recent episodes of Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 10. Dundee To Loch Of The Lowes

Series 15: 10. Dundee To Loch Of The Lowes

Michael’s rail journey through postwar Scotland takes him over the River Tay to Dundee on the trail of Joseph McKenzie, the father of modern Scottish photography.\n\nIn Pe ...

29-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 9. Edinburgh To Queensferry

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 ...

28-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 8. Shawlands To Livingston

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& ...

27-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 7. Glasgow To Cumbernauld

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. ...

26-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 6. Loch Lomond To Kelvinbridge

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 ...

25-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 5. Wokingham To Heathrow

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 ...

22-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 4. Havant To Guildford

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 ...

21-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 3. Swanage To Portchester

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 ...

20-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 2. Chippenham To Yeovil

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 ...

19-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 1. Denham To Swindon

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 ...

18-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Most popular episodes of Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 7. Glasgow To Cumbernauld

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. ...

26-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 4. Havant To Guildford

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 ...

21-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 1. Denham To Swindon

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 ...

18-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 8. Shawlands To Livingston

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& ...

27-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 6. Loch Lomond To Kelvinbridge

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 ...

25-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 3. Swanage To Portchester

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 ...

20-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 14: 15. Tewkesbury To Filton

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, ...

04-09-2023

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 2. Chippenham To Yeovil

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 ...

19-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 15: 5. Wokingham To Heathrow

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 ...

22-03-2024

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

Great British Railway Journeys

Great British Railway Journeys - Series 10: 13. Ealing Broadway To South Kensington

Series 10: 13. Ealing Broadway To South Kensington

Michael Portillo reaches the capital on his rail journey from Warwick to Rye in East Sussex. In the Queen of the Suburbs, Ealing, he finds comedy at the home of British cinema a ...

13-09-2023

BBC 2

All episodes

BBC 2

© 2024 - Catchupplayer.co.uk