Great Coastal Railway Journeys
Great Coastal Railway Journeys is a TV show on BBC2. All aboard! Weaving through charming seaside towns, historic landmarks and natural wonders, Michael Portillo explores the coastal communities the railways made. The program has been available since 2023. A total of 65 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in May 2024.
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Great Coastal Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo’s Scottish railway journey reaches Aberdeen, from which he heads to the wild and beautiful Forvie National Nature Reserve and Scotland's most easterly town, Peterhead.
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Michael Portillo visits St Andrews, home to Scotland’s oldest university, in eastern Fife, before heading to the vibrant city of Dundee and the harbour town of Stonehaven.
Michael Portillo travels from the medieval city of Stirling through Perth, the historic crowning place of Scottish monarchs, and into Kirkcaldy, where he revisits some fond family memories.
Michael Portillo continues his journey at the iconic Forth Bridge, before heading to tour the Royal Yacht Britannia and encountering a pair of vast steel sculptures.
Michael Portillo begins a series of coastal railway journeys around the British Isles, starting in Siccar Point, the site of an extraordinary 18th-century discovery, and finishing at Holyrood House.
Series 3
Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the eastern reaches of England is drawing to a close at the Wash. He travels on the smallest public railway in the world and visits the magnificent Holkham Hall.
Michael examines a replica of the smallest bone in the oldest and largest mammoth ever found in Britain, before sampling Sheringham's local crab and enjoying the North Norfolk Railway heritage line.
Michael Portillo’s East Anglian coastal railway journey takes him to the treacherous waters off the Norfolk coast, which have sunk many ships and cost many lives.
Michael Portillo reaches the Deben estuary on his coastal railway journey around eastern England. At Woodbridge, he is plunged in at the deep end on a rafting challenge with the sea scouts.
Michael Portillo embarks on a new railway journey around the coast of the east of England. He begins in the Thames estuary, travelling across tidal mud flats and salt marshes to end up in Wrabness.
Michael's adventure nears its end on the north Kent coast. In Faversham, he gets out onto the water in the last sailing barge to work on the Thames.
Michael Portillo’s railway exploration of the Channel coastline and Thames estuary via Calais has reached the Isle of Thanet. Flat and temperate, it is excellent terrain for growing.
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure along the north and south coasts of the English Channel resumes in Dover, where he recalls the biggest evacuation in military history.
Michael Portillo travels through the longest undersea tunnel in the world on the Eurotunnel shuttle rail service from Folkestone to Calais.
Michael Portillo sets off on a new railway adventure to explore the twin shores of the English Channel and the estuaries of the Thames and Medway.
Michael Portillo takes the train to the medieval walled town of Conwy on the last leg of his exploration of the shores of north Wales.
Michael is on the Isle of Anglesey, where the briny waters of the Menai Strait are being used to create a Welsh gastronomic delight.
Michael Portillo steams through the glorious scenery of the Snowdonia National Park on one of Britain’s greatest heritage lines, the Welsh Highland Railway.
Michael Portillo continues his railway journey in north Wales, tracking the coastline north from Harlech to skirt the Llyn Peninsula.
Michael Portillo embarks on a railway journey around the western coast of Wales. He begins on the Victorian Cliff Railway at Aberystwyth, finishing the first leg in Tywyn.