Series 15

Season 15 · 2024 · 15 episodes

Documentary series in which Michael Portillo travels the country by train.

1Denham to SwindonBeginning 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.
2Chippenham to YeovilMichael 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.
3Swanage to PortchesterMichael Portillo reaches England’s south coast to continue his exploration of postwar Britain, beginning on the steam-powered Swanage Railway in Dorset.
4Havant to GuildfordMichael Portillo reaches Havant, where the Scalextric factory was located, and Haslemere, the surprise birthplace of a musical phenomenon: the plastic recorder.
5Wokingham to HeathrowMichael 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.
6Loch Lomond to KelvinbridgeMichael 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.
7Glasgow to CumbernauldAt 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.
8Shawlands to LivingstonMichael Portillo continues his postwar Scottish railway adventure, this time from Glasgow to the capital, Edinburgh.
9Edinburgh to QueensferryAt 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.
10Dundee to Loch of the LowesMichael’s rail journey through post-war Scotland takes him over the River Tay to Dundee on the trail of Joseph McKenzie, the father of modern Scottish photography.
11Liverpool to UttoxeterMichael Portillo twists and shouts through postwar Liverpool, visiting the strikingly contemporary Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and visits the former home of artist and poet Adrian Henri.
12Derby to NottinghamMichael Portillo reaches the jet age in the Derby suburb of Peartree, where he tours the engineering colossus Rolls-Royce.
13Lincoln to YorkMichael Portillo’s postwar journey from Merseyside to Teesside resumes at Brayford Pool in Lincoln, where England’s oldest canal, the Fossdyke, meets the city of Lincoln.
14York to SkiptonMichael Portillo’s journey finds him in York, a paradise for rail enthusiasts. He discovers the gardens at Harlow Carr in Harrogate and checks into the headquarters of Yorkshire Tea.
15Northallerton to Chester-Le-StreetMichael Portillo confronts a detachment of Gurkhas, produces a fine heritage cheese and discovers a monster cracker, which is key to making plastic.

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