NaN/100 votesLoading...#1 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#2 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#3 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#4 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#5 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#6 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#7 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#8 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#9 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#10 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#11 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#12 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#13 - 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: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#14 - Brighton to Crystal Palace
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/2011
Brighton to Cromer - Ep 1. Brighton to Crystal Palace. Michael finds out about Brighton's Victorian aquarium, the largest in the world at the time; explores the underground quarries of Godstone, and discovers the wonders of the Crystal Palace in suburban south London.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#15 - Waterloo to Canary Wharf
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 1/4/2011
Brighton to Cromer - Ep 2. Waterloo to Canary Wharf. Michael finds out about the Stiff's express, a funeral service running coffins from Waterloo to Brookwood cemetery. He discovers how London's west end became a great 19th century shopping destination and explores the changing fortunes of London's docks.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#16 - Enfield to Cambridge
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 1/5/2011
Brighton to Cromer - Ep 3. Enfield to Cambridge. Michael visits the Government Arms Factory at Enfield, the largest machine shop in Europe in Bradshaw's day; discovers how the trains transformed Newmarket's races and finds out why Cambridge could be considered the birthplace of modern football.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#17 - Ely to King's Lynn
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 1/6/2011
Brighton to Cromer - Ep 4. Ely to King's Lynn. Michael goes fishing with the last eel trapper on the Fens at Ely and visits one of the great triumphs of 19th century engineering, the Denver Sluice. He ends his journey in King's Lynn, where he uncovers an ambitious plan to reclaim the Wash in Bradshaw's day.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#18 - Dereham to Cromer
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 1/7/2011
Brighton to Cromer - Ep 5. Dereham to Cromer. Michael gets the rare chance to drive a heritage diesel train, finds out why Norfolk black turkeys appeared on the Christmas menu in Bradshaw's day, and samples some classic Cromer crab.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#19 - Ledbury to Shrewsbury
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 1/10/2011
Ledbury to Holyhead - Ep 6. Ledbury to Shrewsbury. Michael tastes the Victorian drink perry, a kind of pear cider, gets up close and personal with a pedigree Hereford bull and visits the grandfather of all skyscrapers, the world's first iron-framed building in Shrewsbury.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#20 - Telford to Wrexham
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 1/11/2011
Ledbury to Holyhead - Ep 7. Telford to Wrexham. Michael visits the world's first Iron bridge at Coalbrookdale, explores the historic Chirk castle and has a go at making traditional Cheshire cheese.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#21 - Chester to Conwy
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 1/12/2011
Ledbury to Holyhead - Ep 8. Chester to Conwy. Michael takes a tour of Chester's Roman remains and discovers a secret World War II chemical weapons plant at Rhydmwyn. After spending the night in Llandudno, he goes mussel fishing on the beautiful Conwy estuary.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#22 - Llanwst to Porthmadog
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 1/13/2011
Ledbury to Holyhead - Ep 9. Llanwst to Porthmadog. Michael explores the Conwy valley, stopping at Britain's first artists' colony at Betwys-y-Coed, visiting the Victorian slate capital of Blaenau Ffestiniog and taking a steam train down to the harbour at Porthmadog.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
NaN/100 votesLoading...#23 - Newcastle to Chester-le-Street
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/17/2011
Newcastle to Melton Mowbray - Ep 11. Newcastle to Chester-Le-Street. Michael visits the first locomotive factory in the world opened by George Stephenson, searches for the lost pit village of Marsden in South Shields, and is entertained by a comic troupe of rapper sword dancers in Chester-le-Street.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#24 - Durham to Grosmont
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 1/18/2011
Newcastle to Melton Mowbray - Ep 12. Durham to Grosmont. Michael visits the historic Durham Cathedral, sees one of the first locomotives in Darlington and takes a Dracula tour in Whitby, before ending his journey on a steam train across the North Yorkshire Moors.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#25 - York to Saltaire
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 1/19/2011
Newcastle to Melton Mowbray - Ep 13. York to Saltaire. Michael takes a Turkish bath in the famous spa town of Harrogate, explores the exemplary Victorian village of Saltaire, and rubs noses with some friendly alpacas, whose fleeces made fortunes in Bradshaw's day.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Worst Episodes of Great British Railway Journeys
Every episode of Great British Railway Journeys ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst 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...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two
Worst Episodes Summary
"Liverpool to Eccles" is the worst rated episode of "Great British Railway Journeys". It scored N/A/10 based on 0 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/4/2010. This episode scored NaN points lower than the second lowest rated, "Manchester to Bury".