Great British Railway Journeys
Great British Railway Journeys is a TV show on BBC4. Documentary series in which Michael Portillo travels the country by train. The program has been available since 2025. A total of 163 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in July 2026.
Last episode
35:00
35:00Great British Railway Journeys
Travelling from Plymouth to the Lizard, Michael Portillo investigates the first radio signal to be sent across the Atlantic.
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25:00Michael Portillo travels between Taunton and Newton Abbot, joining in with a fertility dance in Stogumber, and visiting a celebrated garden at Hestercombe.
35:00Michael Portillo arrives in Newport, where he learns about the heroism of a young boy who was awarded the Albert Medal.
25:00Michael Portillo travels from Pontyclun to Ebbw Vale in Wales, visiting the Royal Mint in Llantrisant and Cardiff Arms Park.
Series 15
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.
Series 9 35:00
35:00Michael Portillo embarks on the first leg of a journey from the coalfields of South Wales to the southernmost tip of Cornwall.
25:00In Dorset, Michael Portillo visits Brownsea Island, where Robert Baden Powell began the scout movement in the early 20th century.
Series 15
Michael Portillo continues his postwar Scottish railway adventure, this time from Glasgow to the capital, Edinburgh.
Series 9 35:00
35:00Michael Portillo visits places of interest in West Sussex and Hampshire, including Southsea's King's Theatre.
25:00Michael Portillo travels from Croydon to Shoreham-by-Sea, hearing the story of a once-celebrated composer and visiting the oldest licensed airport in the UK.
Series 15
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.
Series 9 35:00
35:00Michael Portillo explores Edwardian utopia in Letchworth, where he meets a fourth generation citizen who introduces him to the town's community spirit.
25:00Michael Portillo embarks on train journeys through Edwardian Britain, exploring the grand estates of Norfolk and a bivouac on Brownsea Island on the way.
Series 15
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.
Michael goes on a tour around Heathrow Airport, taking an eerie walk around the mothballed Terminal 1 building and ending up atop the iconic 87.5 metre control tower.
Michael Portillo reaches Havant, where the Scalextric factory was located, and Haslemere, the surprise birthplace of a musical phenomenon – the plastic recorder.
Michael Portillo reaches England’s south coast to continue his exploration of postwar Britain, beginning on the steam-powered Swanage Railway in Dorset.
Michael Portillo joins Navy Wings pilots for a spectacular close formation flight in the skies over Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton and visits the magnificent Elizabethan mansion of Longleat.
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 southern counties.
Series 14 25:00
25:00From Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, Michael Portillo visits Coleford in the Forest of Dean, Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, and Bristol Temple Meads.