Great British Railway Journeys

In this first episode of the series, Michael takes a pot shot at the sport of kings at a country estate, where the king dallied with his mistress. He learns the ropes aboard an Edwardian wherry on the Norfolk Broads and joins variety performers to tap dance on Cromer Pier. In Cambridge, he investigates the student days of the young Prince of Wales and the novelist, E. M. Forster, author of Howard’s End.

Armed with his early 20th century Bradshaw’s guide, Michael Portillo explores an Edwardian utopia with a radical plan at its heart. Michael joins a garden party where a fourth generation citizen of Letchworth introduces him the city’s community spirit. Heading into the capital, Michael discovers a favoured haunt of King Edward VII and samples the monarch’s favourite tipple, the King’s Ginger, invented to keep him warm in his horseless carriage. Improvements to the London Underground in the early 20th century gave us a network of electric railways, which shaped our modern capital. Inside London’s newest rail tunnel, Michael meets engineer, Jonathan Cooper, to discover more about current improvements to London’s oldest deep-level tube line, the Northern line, which is being extended.

Steered by his Edwardian Bradshaw’s guide, Michael Portillo arrives in West Croydon, where he uncovers a once-celebrated, now forgotten, mixed-race composer with an uncannily familiar name. With the modern British rail network now half the size of the Edwardian one, Michael is delighted to discover a railway renaissance in Three Bridges. After inspecting a new depot and its fleet of new Class 700 trains, Michael is accorded the great honour of washing one down. Next stop Lewes, where Michael makes a beeline for Charleston, the beautiful home of the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, where he finds every surface exquisitely decorated by the inhabitants. At Shoreham-by-Sea, Michael discovers magnificent Edwardians in flying machines took off from the oldest licensed airport in the country. Michael takes to the skies.

His early 20th century Bradshaw’s guide in hand, Michael is in Chichester, West Sussex, where he encounters an Edwardian motoring duo, patronised by King Edward VII. After a grand tour of their factory, he is treated to some R & R in one of their finest vehicles. Arriving in the seaside resort of Southsea, Hampshire, Michael heads for the majestic King’s Theatre, built by a renowned theatre designer of the day. He treads the boards with a group of true thespians, in a community production of “Lads in the Village”. Crossing the Solent with a ticket to Ryde, Michael boards the Island Line to travel along the pier in a 1930s London Underground carriage then hops on to the Isle of Wight heritage line bound for Wootton. His destination is Osborne House, where the future King Edward VII spent much of his childhood. In the yachting centre of Cowes, Michael discovers a favourite pastime of the king: yacht racing and finds out about the port’s annual summer regatta.

Steered by his Edwardian Bradshaw’s guide, Michael Portillo promises to do his best on the island where Robert Baden Powell began the scout movement in the early 20th century. Joining a group of modern scouts he learns to build a bivouac and finds out what it is about scouting that still appeals to boys - and girls - today. In the New Forest, Michael searches out some unsung heroes of the First World War – the ponies who became war horses - and hears their story from a Commoner, who runs a stable and riding school. And in Bournemouth, he investigates a very British institution: the beach hut.

Dressed in the colours of the Welsh flag and with his ‘new’ Edwardian Bradshaw’s guide in hand, Michael Portillo embarks on a railway adventure from the coalfields of South Wales around the Bristol Channel to the southernmost tip of Cornwall. His first stop is Whitland in Carmarthenshire, where in the early 20th century, thrill-seekers gathered on Pendine Sands to indulge their need for speed. Michael joins latter day petrol heads to burn rubber on the beach in an iconic 3 wheeler. In Llanelli, Michael retraces the fateful events of a national rail strike in 1911 and is stirred by the sound of a male voice choir as they sing the town’s unofficial anthem.