Michael embarks on a rail journey through Germany, steered by a Bradshaw’s Continental Railway Guide published in 1936.\n\nHis unique window on Europe between the world wars takes him through a tumultuous period in German history, when the nation’s first democracy and its vibrant culture of art, design and decadence were swept away by fascism, nationalism and the increasing likelihood of war.\n\nIn a vast stadium in Berlin, Michael hears how new rail lines were constructed to transport crowds of spectators to the Nazi Olympic Games in 1936. Michael learns how a planned boycott by the United States and other European nations failed and how the success of a black American athlete undermined the Nazi ideology of Aryan superiority.\n\nAt the Museum of Modern Art in Berlin’s Kreuzberg, Michael sees how a leading artist of the era, Georg Grosz, warned of the rise of fascism in a haunting self-portrait. Michael goes to the movies in Potsdam and discovers the success of the Babelsberg Studios, where directors such as Fritz Lang and stars such as Marlene Dietrich worked.
Source: BBC 2
Series 8: 20. Lisieux To Giverny
In the apple orchards of the Calvados region, Michael Portillo discovers how the classic digestif has been distilled since 1865 at the Pierre Huet estate. Over a selection of vi ...
04-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 19. Bayeux To Argentan
At the medieval town of Bayeux, Michael Portillo heads for the Bayeux Tapestry Museum to admire the striking 70-metre-long work of art commissioned to record William the Conquer ...
03-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 18. Rennes To Mont Saint-michel
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches Rennes, capital of Brittany. At the Lycee Emile Zola, he hears how, in 1899, the school was used as a military court for the s ...
02-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 17. Brest To St Brieuc
Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France’s oceanographic fleet. Aboard the pride of the fleet, the 107-metre-long Pourquoi ...
01-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 16. Nantes To Lorient
Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful and historic regions of Brittany and Normandy and learns of th ...
31-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 15. Zweisimmen To Lausanne
Aboard the Golden Pass Express, Michael Portillo wends his way in style down steep mountainsides from Interlaken to the Swiss Riviera.\n\nIn Lausanne, he contends with a knife-w ...
28-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 14. Rotkreuz To Brienz
Michael Portillo scales the Swiss Alps on one of the steepest cog railways in the world and marvels at the Pilatus Railway’s unique track design, which defies an astonishi ...
27-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 13. Zurich
In Zurich, Michael Portillo has a brush with the absurd in the anarchic paintings and artistic haunts of the Dadaists, a group of artists who found refuge in the city during the ...
26-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 12. Sedrun To Schwyz
Michael Portillo ventures into the bowels of an immense hydroelectric dam to learn how the Swiss use their mountainous environment to power the country.\n\nHe winds his way by r ...
25-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 11. Maienfeld To The Rhine Gorge
Michael Portillo is transported 150 years back in time to the tiny Alpine village home of Switzerland’s most famous child, Heidi. In Davos, he follows in the footsteps of ...
24-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 2
Michael continues his rail journey through Spain with his 1930s Bradshaw’s guide. At the Museo Reina Sofia, Michael hears how the bombing of a small town in the Basque reg ...
24-06-2024
BBC 2
Series 8: 13. Zurich
In Zurich, Michael Portillo has a brush with the absurd in the anarchic paintings and artistic haunts of the Dadaists, a group of artists who found refuge in the city during the ...
26-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 19. Bayeux To Argentan
At the medieval town of Bayeux, Michael Portillo heads for the Bayeux Tapestry Museum to admire the striking 70-metre-long work of art commissioned to record William the Conquer ...
03-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 17. Brest To St Brieuc
Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the naval port of Brest, home to France’s oceanographic fleet. Aboard the pride of the fleet, the 107-metre-long Pourquoi ...
01-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 20. Lisieux To Giverny
In the apple orchards of the Calvados region, Michael Portillo discovers how the classic digestif has been distilled since 1865 at the Pierre Huet estate. Over a selection of vi ...
04-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 16. Nantes To Lorient
Michael Portillo’s rail travels take him to the north west corner of France, where he explores the beautiful and historic regions of Brittany and Normandy and learns of th ...
31-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 15. Zweisimmen To Lausanne
Aboard the Golden Pass Express, Michael Portillo wends his way in style down steep mountainsides from Interlaken to the Swiss Riviera.\n\nIn Lausanne, he contends with a knife-w ...
28-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 14. Rotkreuz To Brienz
Michael Portillo scales the Swiss Alps on one of the steepest cog railways in the world and marvels at the Pilatus Railway’s unique track design, which defies an astonishi ...
27-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 8
Michael continues his railway journey from Sicily’s capital, Palermo, through the ancient town of Agrigento and the port of Siracusa to Europe’s largest volcano, Mou ...
16-07-2024
BBC 2