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The Best Episodes of Great British Railway Journeys

Every episode of Great British Railway Journeys ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Great British Railway Journeys!

The Best Episodes of Great British Railway Journeys

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to...
  1. Background image for The Flying Scotsman
    9.3/10(11 votes)

    #1 - The Flying Scotsman

    S8:E1

    he Flying Scotsman A once-in-a-lifetime journey aboard the most famous train in history, the Flying Scotsman, begins for Michael before dawn at London's King's Cross. Excitement builds on the platform as the world's media, fans and 300 passengers await the arrival of railway royalty.

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    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for Windsor to Didcot
    9.0/10(7 votes)

    #2 - Windsor to Didcot

    S3:E6

    Michael Portillo visits a station fit for royalty in Windsor and views an engineering triumph built by Brunel to span the Thames at Maidenhead.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Llanberis to Holyhead
    8.8/10(8 votes)

    #3 - Llanberis to Holyhead

    S2:E10

    Ledbury to Holyhead - Ep 10. Llanberis to Holyhead. Michael takes the train to the top of Wales's highest peak, Mount Snowdon; witnesses the revival of Anglesey's sea salt industry; and discovers how the railways transformed the tiny port of Holyhead.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Cardiff to Brecon
    8.8/10(7 votes)

    #4 - Cardiff to Brecon

    S3:E14

    Michael discovers the Victorian coal heritage that turned Cardiff into the city it is today, explores the 19th-century reason why Barry Island isn't an island, and takes a steam ride through the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Heysham to Snaefell
    8.6/10(6 votes)

    #5 - Heysham to Snaefell

    S3:E20

    Michael sets sail from Heysham to the Isle of Man, where he discovers the horse trams of Douglas, the 19th century secrets of the giant Laxy Waterwheel, and the Victorian history of the delightful Snaefell mountain railway.

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    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Navan to Mullingar
    8.6/10(9 votes)

    #6 - Navan to Mullingar

    S8:E13

    Navan to Mullingar Michael gets up to speed with modern archaeology in County Meath and uncovers a controversial Victorian dig at the sacred Hill of Tara. He investigates leaping salmon in Leixslip and discovers an electrifying breakthrough at an historic seminary. At Mullingar, Michael bangs the drum for the town's marching band.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Great British Railway Journeys

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  8. Background image for Newcastle to Lindisfarne
    8.5/10(7 votes)

    #7 - Newcastle to Lindisfarne

    S6:E15

    Michael Portillo journeys from Newcastle up the north east coast to Lindisfarne. He finds out about the world's earliest swing bridge and its inventor, Newcastle engineer Sir William Armstrong, and discovers how the city's Victorian industrial heritage has found a new cultural purpose. From Seahouses by boat, amid puffins and cormorants, Michael goes in search of a darling of the Victorian press who, with her father, rescued nine people from tumultuous seas. On the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, Michael explores the lime kilns and finds out how, in the 7th century, Christianity spread from here across northern England.

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    Director:Dave Minchin
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for High Street Kensington to London Bridge
    8.4/10(6 votes)

    #8 - High Street Kensington to London Bridge

    S6:E10

    On the last of his journeys in the capital, Michael Portillo explores Albertopolis and reaches dizzying heights inside a Victorian landmark. He meets some of Battersea's most famous residents and gives one of them a bath! At Vauxhall, Michael learns about the darker side of London's flower market in Bradshaw's day. He ends this journey at London Bridge, where two stations are becoming one, and a new concourse is being built.

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    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Letchworth Garden City to Herne Hill
    8.4/10(9 votes)

    #9 - Letchworth Garden City to Herne Hill

    S9:E2

    Letchworth Garden City to Herne Hill Michael joins a garden party where a fourth-generation citizen of Letchworth introduces him to 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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Dundee to Aberdeen
    8.3/10(8 votes)

    #10 - Dundee to Aberdeen

    S11:E4

    Stopping at Dundee, Michael Portillo heads for Glamis Castle, where Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, grew up.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Great Yarmouth to Beccles
    8.2/10(7 votes)

    #11 - Great Yarmouth to Beccles

    S3:E1

    Michael Portillo discovers the grave robbing history of Great Yarmouth and tries his hand at working a Victorian swing bridge in Reedham.

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    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Newark-on-Trent to Stockton-on-Tees
    8.2/10(7 votes)

    #12 - Newark-on-Trent to Stockton-on-Tees

    S8:E3

    Newark on Trent to Stockton-on-Tees Following his trip from London to York on board the Flying Scotsman, Michael uses his Bradshaw's to trace the path of the famous service, beginning in the 'Key of the North' Newark-on-Trent and finishing in the cradle of the railways, Stockton-on-Tees.

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    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for Blackpool to Manchester Victoria
    8.2/10(7 votes)

    #13 - Blackpool to Manchester Victoria

    S8:E6

    Blackpool to Manchester Victoria On a new journey across Bradshaw's Britain with his Victorian guidebook. He makes potent new friends in Fleetwood then heads to Manchester, where George Stephenson built the world's first modern railway line. This epoch-defining achievement is being incorporated into a new multi-million pound rail link between Manchester's Victoria and Piccadilly stations and Michael lends a hand with the welding. At a moving ceremony in Manchester Piccadilly station, Michael unveils a new monument to 87 railwaymen of the London and North Western Railway, who lost their lives in the Great War.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Bodmin to Totnes
    8.2/10(5 votes)

    #14 - Bodmin to Totnes

    S11:E8

    Clutching his 1930s Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo reaches Bodmin en route to Totnes as he explores the West Country from St Ives to Salisbury Plain.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Witham to Felixstowe
    8.2/10(5 votes)

    #15 - Witham to Felixstowe

    S11:E13

    Michael Portillo's railway journey reaches Witham in Essex. Here he visits the factory of the world's oldest supplier of metal framed windows which became popular in the 30s.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Saxmundham to Norwich
    8.2/10(5 votes)

    #16 - Saxmundham to Norwich

    S11:E14

    Michael Portillo heads for Snape Maltings, a concert and arts venue, and learns how the music and life of one of Britain’s greatest composers was shaped by the sea and his Suffolk surroundings.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Amersham to Regent's Park
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #17 - Amersham to Regent's Park

    S6:E6

    Michael Portillo embarks on a series of journeys through London. He travels on the capital's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Line, from Amersham, where he discovers the foundations for modern-day suburbia. In Pinner, Michael finds out about a Victorian domestic goddess and whips up a pint of her fanciest ice cream. In Highgate, Michael investigates the terraced catacombs of one of London's vast 19th-century cemeteries. At Baker Street, he comes face to face with Isambard Kingdom Brunel before experiencing a hot wax at first hand. He ends this journey with a trip to the zoo at Regent's Park.

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    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Swansea to Hereford
    8.0/10(10 votes)

    #18 - Swansea to Hereford

    S6:E17

    Michael Portillo continues his journey from Pembroke Dock to Cambridge. On this leg, he begins in the ruinous gardens at Aberglasney in Llandeilo before riding shotgun in the driver's cab on the Heart of Wales Line on one of the most scenic routes in Britain. En route, Michael learns about the Victorian signalling system still in place today and struggles with his Welsh pronunciation. Over the border in Leominster, Michael steps out on to the dance floor at the Lion Hotel Ballroom, where a grand ball was held to celebrate the opening of the Ludlow to Hereford railway. He finishes this leg of his journey at a traditional cider house in Hereford, where he is invited to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

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    Director:Titus Ogilvy
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for Darlington to Dunbar
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #19 - Darlington to Dunbar

    S8:E4

    Darlington to Dunbar In Newton Aycliffe, he tests a state-of-the-art passenger train on tracks which follow the route taken by George Stephenson's steam engine on its historic journey in 1825. Through the looking glass at Croft-on-Tees he discovers a curious potion at the childhood home of Victorian writer Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, and finds the author was also a fan of Bradshaw

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    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Manchester Piccadilly to Silkstone Common
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #20 - Manchester Piccadilly to Silkstone Common

    S8:E7

    Manchester Piccadilly to Silkstone Common Michael Portillo's journey from the Irish Sea to the North Sea continues by tram from Manchester. At the imposing town hall of the world's first industrial city, Michael comes face to face with the Victorian scientist who invented modern atomic theory. He then heads to the city's National Graphene Institute, where he learns to make the groundbreaking material invented there by two Nobel prize-winning scientists. His Bradshaw's leads him to an 18th-century settlement built by refugees from Europe.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Swanwick to Brownsea Island
    8.0/10(9 votes)

    #21 - Swanwick to Brownsea Island

    S9:E5

    Swanwick to Brownsea Island 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. Plus in Bournemouth, he investigates a very British institution: the beach hut.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Pontyclun to Ebbw Vale Town
    8.0/10(6 votes)

    #22 - Pontyclun to Ebbw Vale Town

    S9:E7

    Pontyclun to Ebbw Vale Town Armed with his Edwardian Bradshaw's guide, Michael strikes gold at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, where after much frisking, he gains access to the inner vaults. At Cardiff Arms Park, Michael revisits the scene of a triumphant Welsh victory over the fearsome All Blacks and hears from Welsh international Gerald Davies how the Welsh national anthem kicked the intimidating Haka into touch. In Cardiff Bay, Michael discovers the departure point for one of the Edwardian era's most famous expeditions - Scott's ill-fated voyage to the Antarctic. Aboard the racing yacht Challenge Wales, Michael meets young sailors training for a Tall Ships Race.

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    Director:Titus Ogilvy
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Biggin Hill to Ashdown Forest
    8.0/10(8 votes)

    #23 - Biggin Hill to Ashdown Forest

    S13:E1

    Michael Portillo experiences a terrifying ‘victory roll’ in a World War II Spitfire, high above the most famous aerodrome of the Battle of Britain, Biggin Hill. The 80-year-old aircraft, in which so many young men risked their lives for the nation, is one of a fleet intensively maintained by a dedicated team of technicians, and Michael is privileged to be flown by an ex-Royal Navy pilot. Michael learns of the strategic importance of the sector airfield to the defence of the capital and the country. Back on terra firma, Michael takes the train to East Grinstead on the trail of a bear with very little brain. In Ashdown Forest, he meets a biographer of A.A. Milne to find out about the author’s much-loved character, Winnie the Pooh. Michael plays a game of Pooh Sticks, then treats himself to a ‘little something’ at Pooh Corner.

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    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Deal to Margate
    8.0/10(5 votes)

    #24 - Deal to Margate

    S13:E4

    From the Kent Cinque Port of Deal, Michael heads to the splendid Walmer Castle, home during the 1920s to a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord Beauchamp. Michael’s guide, the founder of the LGBTQ working group for English Heritage, tells Michael of the lavish homosexual parties Lord Beauchamp held at the castle and how his openly hedonistic lifestyle, at a time when homosexuality was illegal, resulted in his exile from the country. Tracking the east Kent coast, Michael reaches the Royal Harbour of Ramsgate, where he remembers the courage of the little ships that evacuated men from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940. Michael goes deep underground to see where the town’s residents sheltered from enemy bombs in a two-and-a-half mile long disused railway tunnel, some for up to five years. Next stop is Margate, 'an exuberant resort' according to Bradshaw’s and the holiday destination of choice for Londoners drawn by the town’s pioneering amusement park, Dreamland.

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    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Greenock to Larkhall
    7.9/10(8 votes)

    #25 - Greenock to Larkhall

    S6:E2

    Armed with his Bradshaw's guide, Michael Portillo continues his journey through southern Scotland. He celebrates Victorian iron and steel in Motherwell and admires one of its crowning achievements - the Forth Rail Bridge. Michael journeys through picturesque countryside to admire the raw power of nature at the magnificent and romantic Clyde Falls, which inspired Wordsworth and Coleridge, and where Victorian ladies swooned. In Cumbernauld, Michael learns of the birth of one of Scotland's best-selling soft drinks. In Linlithgow, he marvels at the ingenuity of the engineers who built the Union Canal and experiences a 21st century technological refinement at Falkirk.

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    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"The Flying Scotsman" is the best rated episode of "Great British Railway Journeys". It scored 9.3/10 based on 11 votes. Directed by Tom Richardson and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/2/2017. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Windsor to Didcot".