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 275 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in October 2025.
Last episode
25:00
25:00Great British Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo discovers the origins of Harry Beck's map of the London Underground, and explores the headquarters of Churchill's war cabinet.
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25:00Michael Portillo is in London, where he tracks the River Thames from east to west. Starting in Dagenham, he ends up at the iconic Battersea Power Station.
35:00Michael Portillo travels to Hampstead, where he learns more about the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, before making his way to Islington.
25:00Michael Portillo continues his travels through the capital in the heart of London's East End, making his way from Hackney Wick to Oxford Circus.
25:00Michael Portillo continues his travels in Greater London, ending up in Kennington to learn about the childhood of Charlie Chaplin.
25:00Michael Portillo reaches the Kent seaside resort of Herne Bay, eventually crosses the North Downs to Lenham, and pays a visit to Leeds Castle.
35:00Michael Portillo heads to Walmer Castle, home during the 1920s to Lord Beauchamp, and in Margate he discovers the connection to TS Eliot.
25:00Michael Portillo follows his 1930s Bradshaw's guide to the unspoilt East Sussex port of Rye, then boards the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch railway to Dungeness.
25:00Michael Portillo arrives in Hassocks and the beautiful Sussex village of Ditchling, before making his way to the village of Benenden.
25:00Michael Portillo takes a trip in a Second World War Spitfire above Biggin Hill aerodrome.
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.
Series 8 35:00
35:00On the last leg of Michael Portillo's long journey from Wexford to Westport, a fashionable Victorian seaweed bath is followed by a steamy scene in Ballina.
25:00Michael Portillo continues his Irish journey from Dromod to Sligo. Along the way he discovers how the landscape inspired WB Yeats and learns to make a potato pancake.
25:00Michael Portillo continues his journey across Ireland, travelling from Navan to Mullingar, where he uncovers a controversial Victorian dig at the sacred Hill of Tara.
35:00At Trinity College, Dublin, Michael Portillo discovers one of Ireland's greatest treasures, and also explores the house and gardens of Powerscourt in County Wicklow.
25:00Michael Portillo begins a journey across Ireland, starting in the port of Wexford, where he takes to the seas in a 100-year-old lifeboat.
25:00Michael Portillo embarks on the final leg of his journey following the route of the North Country Continental service, heading to Harwich, Essex.
25:00Michael Portillo travels from Gainsborough to Ely, along the way learning about a Victorian machine that changed shopping for ever and the poet Alfred Tennyson.
35:00Michael starts his journey in Chapeltown, Sheffield, following what was once known as the North Country Continental service, and finishing in Doncaster.