Catch up TV
Series 8: 7. Myrdal to Heddal
Michael Portillo’s rail journey continues on the Bergen Line, heading towards the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Carving through the mountains across some of Europe’s most inhospitable terrain, he passes glaciers, lakes, waterfalls and plateaux to reach northern Europe’s highest station at 1,200 meters above sea level. He marvels at the feat of engineering required to build the line, which runs for 300 miles through more than 180 tunnels.\n\nArriving in Oslo, Michael admires its fine modernist architecture and 19th-century parliament building. In Telemark, he visits Vemork power station, scene of one of the greatest stories of wartime heroism. The son of one of the heroes of Telemark tells the story. Michael enjoys a heritage rail ride in Rjukan and discovers a medieval stave church in Heddal.
Source: BBC 2
Most recent episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 8. Larvik To Holstebro
Michael Portillo’s saga through Norway and Denmark resumes in Larvik on Norway’s southern coast, where he investigates the city’s prized natural resource, a di ...
19-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 7. Myrdal To Heddal
Michael Portillo’s rail journey continues on the Bergen Line, heading towards the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Carving through the mountains across some of Europe’s mo ...
18-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 6. Bergen To Flåm
Michael Portillo embarks on a Scandinavian railway adventure from the Norwegian port of Bergen to the Danish capital of Copenhagen. Spectacular scenery lines his route along two ...
17-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 5. Mostar To Dubrovnik
Michael Portillo is on the last stretch of his railway adventure through the Balkan countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. He enjoys a helter-skelter journey on the hi ...
14-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 4. Sarajevo
In Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Michael Portillo traces the fateful last journey in 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, which ended in the ...
13-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 3. Knin To Split
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches the Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar, once an important Venetian trading hub and still a centre for the production of a Venetia ...
12-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 2. Buzet To Pag
Ably assisted by Lila, an expert labrador, Michael Portillo hunts for truffles in the Istrian countryside near the hilltop town of Buzet. His railway adventure through the Balka ...
11-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 1. Pula To Pazin
Michael begins a journey across the Balkan countries of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Armed with shield and sword and weighed down by a heavy helmet, he mounts a valiant d ...
10-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 10
Michael Portillo continues his scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle, steered by his 1936 ...
22-07-2024
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 9
Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle, steered by his 1936 ...
18-07-2024
BBC 2
Most popular episodes of Great Continental Railway Journeys
Great Continental Railway Journeys
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
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7: 1. Salamanca To Canfranc
Michael Portillo sports a strikingly modern edition of his Bradshaw’s Continental Handbook, dated 1936. His destination lies close to his heart: the ancient kingdom of Spa ...
11-03-2024
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 1 - Reversions - Amsterdam To Northern France Part 2
Michael Portillo visits the forest of Compiegne to hear how, after four years of conflict, the Armistice was signed in a railway carriage.
17-08-2014
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 5. Mostar To Dubrovnik
Michael Portillo is on the last stretch of his railway adventure through the Balkan countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. He enjoys a helter-skelter journey on the hi ...
14-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7: 6. Stockholm To The Arctic Circle
Michael Portillo embarks on a scenic, thousand-mile rail journey from the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to Abisko in the northern reaches of the Arctic Circle. Steered by his 1936 ...
19-03-2024
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 6 - Reversions: 1. Kiev To Odessa Part 1
With his Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide in hand, Michael Portillo ventures east to a land which a century ago was part of the Russian Empire and today is the independ ...
14-05-2018
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 7 (shortened Versions): Episode 3
Michael Portillo travels from the chateaux of the Loire Valley to the heart of the Champagne region at Reims.\n\nBeginning in historic Orleans, Michael follows his Bradshaw&rsqu ...
27-06-2024
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 8: 3. Knin To Split
Michael Portillo’s railway adventure reaches the Dalmatian coastal city of Zadar, once an important Venetian trading hub and still a centre for the production of a Venetia ...
12-03-2025
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 2 - Madrid To Gibraltar
Michael Portillo returns to his native Spain as he follows the railway lines travelled by the intrepid tourists of the Belle Epoque.
18-08-2014
BBC 2
Great Continental Railway Journeys
Series 1 - Reversions: 9. Berlin To The Rhein Part 1
23-02-2015
BBC 2