Season 1

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  N/A/100 votes

  Liverpool to Eccles

  Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 1/4/2010

  Ep1: Liverpool to Eccles. Michael begins his journey on the world's first passenger railway line, learns to speak Scouse in Liverpool, finds out about the first railway fatality and explores the origins of the Eccles cake.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Manchester to Bury

  Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 1/5/2010

  Michael is in Manchester to find out more about George Bradshaw himself. He also gets fitted for a trilby in Denton and learns how the railways helped to create a national institution - fish and chips.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Todmorden to York

  Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 1/6/2010

  Michael travels back in time on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, finds out about the latest Roman discoveries in York and takes to the air in the Network Rail helicopter.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Pontefract to Bridlington

  Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 1/7/2010

  Michael searches for the last liquorice grower in Pontefract, discovers how the railways turned Hull into one of the largest white fish ports in the world and goes fishing for sea bass in Bridlington.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Filey to Scarborough

  Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 1/8/2010

  Michael goes bird-watching on the wild cliffs of Flamborough Head, learns to decipher traditional knitting patterns in Filey and meets one of the oldest residents of the Victorian seaside resort of Scarborough - a 4000-year-old skeleton called Gristhorpe Man.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Preston to Morecambe

  Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 1/11/2010

  Michael explores the origins of the temperance movement in Preston, samples the attractions of Blackpool, a resort made by the railways, and takes a walk across Morecambe Bay with the official Keeper of the Sands.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Settle to Garsdale

  Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 1/12/2010

  Michael returns to the historic Settle-Carlisle line to find out what has happened to it since he helped save it in the 1980s. Along the way, he explores the magnificent Ribblehead viaduct, finds out about the navvies who helped to build it and catches a steam train along the line.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Windermere to Kendal

  Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 1/13/2010

  Michael takes a steamboat tour of Lake Windermere, visits Wordsworth's home village of Grasmere and makes sausages with a local Herdwick sheep farmer.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Carlisle to Glasgow

  Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 1/14/2010

  Michael meets the wild clansmen of Carlisle, the Border Reivers, witnesses a wedding in Gretna Green and visits a secret World War One munitions factory.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy

  Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 1/15/2010

  Michael makes apple juice in the Clyde valley orchards, pays a thrilling visit to the top of the Forth Rail Bridge and relives his childhood memories in his grandparents' home town of Kirkcaldy.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Swindon to Bristol

  Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 1/18/2010

  Michael finds out about free holiday trains for the GWR workers in Swindon, samples the Spa in Bath, and tries his hand at glass blowing in Bristol.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Yatton to Weston Super Mare

  Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/19/2010

  Michael samples local Cheddar strawberries, explores Cheddar Gorge and the famous caves, and visits one of the oldest piers in the country at Weston Super Mare.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Torquay to Totnes

  Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/20/2010

  Michael finds out about Torquay's micro climate, goes salmon fishing on the Dart estuary and spends some of Totnes' new local currency.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Bugle to Mevagissey

  Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/21/2010

  Michael visits the largest clay mine in the world near St Austell, goes pilchard fishing in Mevagissey and finds out how the estate of Heligan shaped British gardens.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Truro to Penzance

  Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/22/2010

  Michael searches for the lost church of St Piran, explores the last working tin mine in Cornwall and harvests oysters on the Helford River.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Buxton to Matlock

  Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/25/2010

  Michael visits an architectural wonder, the Duke of Devonshire's stables in Buxton, helps to repair the ancient peat landscape of the Peak District and travels on the historic steam railway to Rowsley.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Cromford to Burton-on-Trent

  Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/26/2010

  Michael visits the oldest working factory in the world at Cromford, explores the country's first public park in Derby and finds out why Burton's beer is said to be the best.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Walsall to Bournville

  Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 1/27/2010

  Michael meets the queen's saddler in Walsall, learns how to cook an authentic Indian curry in Birmingham and visits Bournville, rumoured to be the best place to live in Britain.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  Coventry to Watford

  Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 1/28/2010

  Michael relives the Coventry Blitz, meets the last pure breed Aylesbury duck farmer in Buckinghamshire and finds out how the trains helped to evacuate millions of children during World War II.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown

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  N/A/100 votes

  St Pancras to Westminster

  Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 1/29/2010

  Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of four epic journeys, he travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains. His journey takes him from Buxton along one of the first railway routes south to the capital, London. This time, Michael explores one of the grandest railway stations and hotels in the country: St Pancras. He rides the world's first tube line to Smithfield market and climbs up the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament to hear Big Ben chime.

  Director: Unknown

  Writer: Unknown