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 2026. A total of 120 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in November 2026.
Last episode
22:16
22:16Great British Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo arrives in Hassocks and the beautiful Sussex village of Ditchling, before making his way to the village of Benenden.
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22:53Michael Portillo experiences a terrifying ‘victory roll’ in a World War II Spitfire, meets a biographer of AA Milne and lends a hand at the community-owned Plaw Hatch Farm.
Series 11
22:22
22:22Michael Portillo travels from Dundee to Aberdeen, stopping off at Glamis Castle, where the Queen Mother grew up, and making an excursion into the Eastern Highlands.
Series 12 22:58
22:58Michael Portillo travels from Aberystwyth into the Cambrian Mountains at Devil's Bridge, and finishes in Newtown, Powys.
Series 11 22:26
22:26Michael Portillo reaches the Westerglen Transmitting Station in Falkirk, before visiting Gleneagles and Berry Town on route to the city of Dundee.
Series 12 22:39
22:39Michael Portillo explores Snowdonia, the town of Porthmadog, and the village Portmeirion, crafted by Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis.
Series 11 22:21
22:21Michael Portillo is in Northumbria, discovering what lay behind a national initiative to plant one of the largest manmade woodlands in Europe.
Series 12 22:57
22:57Michael Portillo continues his railway tour of north Wales in the coastal city of Bangor, before turning south to Betws y Coed, the gateway to Snowdonia.
Series 11 22:22
22:22Beginning in Jarrow, Michael uncovers the desperation which led 200 men to march 300miles to Westminster in order to petition the Government for work.
Series 16
Michael's exploration of Essex is drawing to a close. He visits Colchester, which was first mentioned in AD77 and proudly claims to be Britain’s oldest recorded town.
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.
Michael’s exploration of Essex reaches Chelmsford, where the city's bishop relates her story of escape from Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Michael’s exploration of Essex continues in Romford, where he visits a state-of-the-art rail-operating centre. On the River Blackwater, he visits the Ross Revenge, home of Radio Caroline.
Michael Portillo embarks on a journey across Essex. He heads to the ancient woodland of Epping Forest and learns of Audley End House's role as a secret wartime military school.
On the final leg of his Midlands tour, Michael Portillo travels to Solihull, the home of iconic British brand Land Rover. Later, he visits the childhood neighbourhood of JRR Tolkien.
Arriving in Birmingham, Michael Portillo heads to Curzon Street for a tour of the HS2 terminus still under construction. In the Newtown area, he visits the oldest private manufacturing firm in the UK.
Michael Portillo boards a barge on the Dudley Canal, discovers an ancient seabed and explores racial tension in 1960s Smethwick.
Michael Portillo is in Ironbridge Gorge on the River Severn, a hotbed of 18th-century innovation which features the world's first coke blast iron furnace.
Michael Portillo re-enacts the Battle of Shrewsbury, explores the town's beautiful Gothic cathedral and rides the Telford Steam Railway’s flagship locomotive.
Michael concludes his journey from Cumbria to Dumfriesshire by crossing the Solway Firth into Scotland, where he visits the beautifully preserved last home of Scotland’s greatest poet, Robert Burns.