The weekly journey is chosen to fit with a theme, either geographic, such as coast to coast, or historic. Victorian guidebooks written by George Bradshaw under the title Bradshaw's Guide were the first comprehensive timetable and travel guides to the railway system in Great Britain, which at the time although it had grown to be extensive, still consisted of several fragmented and competing railway companies and lines, each publishing their timetables.Ĭlassified by the BBC in both the travel and history genres, the series features Portillo using the guide to plan his journeys, in the process visiting points of interest picked out in the guide and comparing its content with the modern world, both the physical and cultural ones.Įach series features Portillo travelling on a different route each week, with each daily episode being one short leg of the journey. Portillo has presented 8 other series with a similar format: Great Continental Railway Journeys (7 series 2012–2020), Great American Railroad Journeys (4 series 2016–2020), Great Indian Railway Journeys (2018), Great Alaskan Railroad Journeys and Great Canadian Railway Journeys (broadcast consecutively in January 2019), Great Australian Railway Journeys (2019), Great Asian Railway Journeys (2020) and Great Coastal Railway Journeys (2022).

The series features Portillo travelling around the railway networks of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man, referring to Bradshaw's Guide and comparing how the various destinations have changed since initially, he used an 1840s copy, but in later series, he used other editions. The documentary was first broadcast in 2010 on BBC Two and has returned annually for a current total of 14 series.

Great British Railway Journeys is a 2010-present BBC documentary series presented by Michael Portillo, a former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister who was instrumental in saving the Settle to Carlisle line from closure in 1989. Michael Portillo during filming at Taunton station in 2017

Railways of the Great War with Michael Portillo (2014).

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