Michael Portillo steams through the glorious scenery of the Snowdonia National Park on one of Britain’s greatest heritage lines, the Welsh Highland Railway. Stopping off at Beddgelert, Michael takes in the awesome geology, which inspired Charles Darwin.\n\nBack aboard the Welsh Highland Railway, Michael heads for Caernarfon, in whose 13th-century castle King Charles III was invested as Prince of Wales in 1969. Michael heads for the coast, where the Menai Strait separates mainland Wales from Ynys Môn, or Anglesey, to find the heart of the United Kingdom’s mussel industry.\n\nContinuing along the Menai Strait, Michael reaches its earliest road crossing, an elegant suspension bridge designed by the Scottish engineer Thomas Telford and opened in 1826. And from Bangor, Michael takes the train across the Britannia Bridge to the first station on Anglesey, known as LlanfairPG, to visit the island’s sea zoo.
Source: BBC 2
Series 3: 20. Wells-next-the-sea To The Wash
Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the eastern reaches of England is drawing to a close. His travels today begin on the smallest public railway in the world, the Wells ...
13-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 19. West Runton To Burnham Market
The oldest and largest mammoth ever found in Britain was discovered by walkers on the beach at West Runton in Norfolk. Michael Portillo examines a replica of the smallest bone i ...
08-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 18. Lowestoft To Great Yarmouth
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 ...
07-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 17. Woodbridge To Southwold
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 ...
07-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 16. Canvey Island To Wrabness
Michael Portillo embarks on a new railway journey around the coast of the east of England. He begins in the Thames estuary, where creeks separate Canvey Island from the mainland ...
02-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 15. Faversham To Chatham
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure zig-zagging the coasts of the English Channel and the Thames estuary nears its end on the north Kent coast. The pretty and historic to ...
01-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 14. Birchington-on-sea To Whitstable
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 f ...
29-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 13. Dover To Margate
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. ...
25-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 11. Eastbourne To Rye
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.\n\nAt Cuckmere Haven, he enjoy ...
24-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 12. Folkestone To Le Touquet
Michael Portillo travels through the longest undersea tunnel in the world on the Eurotunnel shuttle rail service from Folkestone to Calais.\n\nIn Calais, Michael is reminded tha ...
24-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 13. Dover To Margate
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. ...
25-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 2. Exeter To Plymouth
Michael Portillo reaches Devon’s county town, Exeter, dominated since the Middle Ages by its magnificent gothic cathedral. Michael joins the stonemasons charged with conse ...
03-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 1: 6. Inverness To The Cairngorms
Michael Portillo crosses the Culloden Viaduct aboard the Caledonian Sleeper to arrive bright and early in the coastal city of Inverness, from where he heads north on a magnifice ...
13-05-2024
BBC 2
Series 2: 7. Whitby To Robin Hood's Bay
Michael Portillo continues his railway adventure at Whitby, where he explores the port’s shipbuilding and seafaring heritage.\n\nIn Grosmont, Michael boards the first stea ...
27-07-2023
BBC 2
Series 3: 18. Lowestoft To Great Yarmouth
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 ...
07-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: 7. Harlech To Abedaron
Michael Portillo continues his railway journey in north Wales, tracking the coastline north from Harlech to skirt the Llyn Peninsula. \n\nBeginning on the shifting sands of Morf ...
14-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 2: 2. Liverpool To Blackpool
From the Isle of Man, Michael Portillo crosses the Irish Sea, bound for the mighty port of Liverpool and its historic waterfront. \n\nAt the International Slavery Museum in Roya ...
22-06-2023
BBC 2
Series 2: 12. Ballymena To Carrickfergus
Michael Portillo is in the glens of Antrim, where Ireland’s folklore and magical myths flourish and he is transfixed by tales of fairies and legends of the sea. \n\nAt th ...
13-09-2023
BBC 2
Series 2: 17. Kimmeridge To Brownsea Island
Michael alights at Wareham to visit Dorset’s internationally renowned Jurassic Coast. Exploring the geology, he discovers black gold locked into its rocks and visits one o ...
18-10-2023
BBC 2
Series 1: 13. Morpeth To Amble
Michael Portillo explores the wild and rugged coastline of Northumberland by rail. He begins today in Morpeth, where he finds a historic collection of Northumbrian bagpipes and ...
22-05-2024
BBC 2