Great Coastal Railway Journeys
Great Coastal Railway Journeys is a TV show on BBC2. Michael Portillo travels around the British Isles by train. The program has been available since 2025. A total of 64 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in April 2026.
Last episode
25:00
25:00Great Coastal Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo's Scottish coastal railway journey reaches Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth, the third great inlet on the northeast coast of the Highlands.
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25:00Michael Portillo travels by train north from Inverness to the Orkney Islands. Beginning on the Moray Firth, Michael admires the Cullen Viaduct.
35:00Michael Portillo crosses the Culloden Viaduct aboard the Caledonian Sleeper to arrive bright and early in Inverness.
25:00Michael Portillo's Scottish railway journey reaches Aberdeen, from where he heads out to Forvie National Nature Reserve.
Series 2
25:00
25:00The final leg of Michael Portillo's South Coast adventure begins in Fishbourne. He also visits Brighton, and the South Downs.
25:00Michael Portillo explores Lee on the Solent in Hampshire, the maritime city of Portsmouth, and Chichester's vast, natural harbour.
25:00Michael Portillo heads from Southampton to the Isle of Wight, where he rides the island's railway, made up of recycled London Underground trains.
35:00Michael Portillo visits Dorset's Jurassic Coast. He heads through Swanage, Poole and Sandbanks, before ending his journey on Brownsea Island.
25:00Michael Portillo travels across Dorset, beginning in Portland Harbour, the location for the 2012 Olympic sailing events.
25:00Michael Portillo travels from the capital of the Republic of Ireland, Dublin, on the DART suburban railway to the harbour town of Dun Laoghaire.
25:00Michael Portillo makes his way from the vast beaches of the Carlingford Peninsula to the capital of the Republic of Ireland, Dublin.
35:00Michael Portillo makes his way from Bangor to Belfast, along the way enjoying live music on a boat and visiting the parliament building at Stormont.
25:00Michael Portillo visits a museum in Belfast Lough telling the story of Ireland's railway heritage and learns of the important role of Carrickfergus.
25:00Michael Portillo heads to Northern Ireland's Causeway coast beginning a new journey along the north and east coasts through Ulster and Leinster.
25:00Michael Portillo reaches Lincolnshire, where his coastal railway journey ends. In Grimsby Town, he investigates a new stage in the town's history.
35:00Michael Portillo travels from the seaside resort of Hornsea, to Spurn Point, where he learns about a life-saving 19th-century invention.
25:00Michael Portillo is in the North Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough to explore one of the greatest royal fortresses in England.
25:00Michael Portillo travels from Whitby, where he explores the port's shipbuilding and seafaring heritage, to Robin Hood's Bay, a former smuggling haven.
25:00Michael Portillo hunts for dark matter in the deepest mine in Britain in Boulby, North Yorkshire, then visits Middlesbrough's Transporter Bridge.
35:00Michael Portillo embarks on the last leg of his railway journey around the north-west coast of England, visiting the childhood home of William Wordsworth.