Great Continental Railway Journeys | |
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Genre | Travel documentary |
Presented by | Michael Portillo |
Composer | Jon Wygens |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 7 |
No. of episodes | 37 ( list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer | John Comerford |
Producers |
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Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Boundless |
Original release | |
Network |
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Release | 8 November 2012 present | –
Related | |
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Great Continental Railway Journeys is a British television documentary series presented by Michael Portillo. [1] In the early series, Portillo explores the railway networks of continental Europe, but in later series he also ventured further afield. He refers to a 1913 copy of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, as he describes how the places he visits have changed since Edwardian times. The first series was originally broadcast on BBC Two in 2012, and the seventh series was first aired in 2020.
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 5 | 8 November 2012 | 6 December 2012 | |
2 | 6 | 27 October 2013 | 1 December 2013 | |
3 | 6 | 5 November 2014 | 10 December 2014 | |
4 | 6 | 16 October 2015 | 27 November 2015 | |
5 | 6 | 20 September 2016 | 25 October 2016 | |
6 | 2 | 8 March 2018 | 15 March 2018 | |
7 | 6 | 29 July 2020 | 10 September 2020 |
The first series was originally broadcast on BBC Two in 2012. Portillo made five separate journeys across France, Germany, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and the countries whose land made up the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " London to Monte Carlo" | 8 November 2012 | |
2 | " Hungary to Austria" | 15 November 2012 | |
Austria-Hungary,
Budapest,
Bratislava,
Vienna,
Salzburg,
Salzkammergut and Lehár Villa at
Bad Ischl. | |||
3 | " Berlin to the Rhine" | 22 November 2012 | |
4 | " Switzerland" | 29 November 2012 | |
Basel,
Zürich, the
Alps,
Lake Lucerne, and Europe's highest railway station at the top of
Jungfraujoch. | |||
5 | " Amsterdam to Northern France" | 6 December 2012 | |
The pre-war
Low Countries,
Brussels, the French sector of the
Western Front, the forest of
Compiègne, and the signing of the
Armistice. |
Production of a second series included filming in Spain and Gibraltar in May and June 2013, following the Ronda– Algeciras railway line, built in the 1890s by British interests under the Algeciras Gibraltar Railway Company, for the benefit of British officers stationed in Gibraltar wanting to travel to Spain and the rest of Europe. [2] To avoid offending Spanish sensitivities, the line was built concluding in Algeciras, a town in Spain on the opposite side of the Bay of Gibraltar, rather than at the Gibraltar border. Despite it having no direct connection to the European railway network, a chapter was devoted to Gibraltar in the 1913 guidebook. [3]
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " Madrid to Gibraltar" | 27 October 2013 | |
The assassination attempt at the royal wedding of the British princess
Victoria Eugenie and
King Alfonso XIII in 1906,
Cordoba, the
feria,
Andalusia,
Seville, the
Royal Tobacco Factory,
Jerez,
Winston Churchill's diplomatic mission to
Algeciras on Spain's
Costa del Sol, and the
Rock of Gibraltar. | |||
2 | " Turin to Venice" | 3 November 2013 | |
The
Italian Job, Italian cars, fashion in
Milan,
Lake Como,
Verona, the 'House of the Capulets', and the
Venice Biennale art exhibition. | |||
3 | " Dresden to Kiel" | 10 November 2013 | |
Wagner,
Leipzig,
Braunschweig, beer,
Hamburg, the model railway at
Miniatur Wunderland, the rivalry between
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and his uncle
King Edward VII at the
Kiel Week yacht races, and how British yachtsmen spied on the German navy. | |||
4 | " Copenhagen to Oslo" | 17 November 2013 | |
One of the world's oldest roller-coasters in Copenhagen's
Tivoli Gardens, the
Øresund Bridge linking Denmark to
Sweden,
Vladimir Lenin,
Lund, a
smörgåsbord, a
Highland Fling in
Gothenburg, the
Volvo, and Norway's heritage of plays, paintings and polar exploration. | |||
5 | " Prague to Munich" | 24 November 2013 | |
Art Nouveau architecture of the Czech capital, the tango,
Mariánské Lázně ('the spa of the kings'), the
Škoda factory in
Plzeň,
Bavaria, a fire-breathing dragon in
Furth im Wald,
Nuremberg, science and technology. | |||
6 | " Bordeaux to Bilbao" | 1 December 2013 | |
The Atlantic coast of France and Spain, Bordeaux, claret, trams,
Biarritz,
San Sebastián and the
Basque Country. |
The third series had six journeys, in one of which Portillo went further afield to travel on the railways in modern-day Israel.
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " Tula to Saint Petersburg" | 5 November 2014 | |
A
Russian Orthodox choir, the country estate of
Yasnaya Polyana (where
Tolstoy wrote his masterpieces),
Caspian Sea,
Moscow, how to make
pelmeni,
Belorussky railway terminal in Moscow, the
Romanov royal family, the
Bolshoi Theatre, the
Sanduny Baths, the high-speed
Sapsan to St Petersburg, the
Grand Hotel Europe, St Petersburg, the
Nevsky Prospect, the
Winter Palace, the
Hermitage Museum, the first railway ever built in Russia, the village of
Tsarskoye Selo and the
Russian Revolution. | |||
2 | " Rome to Taormina" | 12 November 2014 | |
The
Vespa, the
Spanish Steps,
Naples,
Portici,
Mount Vesuvius, pizza, the island of
Capri,
Reggio Calabria,
Messina, the ancient hilltop town of Taormina, and
Mount Etna. | |||
3 | " Warsaw to Kraków" | 19 November 2014 | |
The
planned destruction of Warsaw during the
Second World War, Poland's national icon
Frederic Chopin, the
polonaise dance;
Łódź – Poland's film industry;
Poznań – the last steam-powered commuter train at
Wolsztyn;
Wrocław –
Market Square,
Wrocław's dwarfs, the
National Rail Carriage Factory;
Kraków –
milk bar and the
Trabant car. | |||
4 | " La Coruña to Lisbon" | 26 November 2014 | |
Galicia,
John Moore (British Army officer), the Celtic roots of the Galician people,
bagpipes, the
pilgrims' trail to
Santiago de Compostela, the West Galician Railway, a sardine cannery, fishing,
São Bento railway station in
Porto, the birth of Britain's long alliance with the Portuguese, a glass of 1953 port, the
Factory House, the
Douro line,
Douro Valley,
Coimbra, the
Fado, a high-speed train to Lisbon, the
Santa Justa Lift, the harbour at
Belém, Portugal's national sweetmeat, the
Palace Square and the Portuguese royal family. | |||
5 | " Haifa to the Negev" | 3 December 2014 | |
The
Holy Land of
Israel, the
Shrine of the Báb,
Mount Carmel, the
Hejaz Railway,
Tel Aviv, the roots of the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict,
Jerusalem, the
Jaffa to Jerusalem railway, the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the
Western Wall, the
Dome of the Rock, the
Al Aqsa Mosque, the
separation barrier between Jerusalem and the
West Bank,
Bethlehem, the Arab Women's Union, the
Dead Sea,
Beersheba, the
London-based
Palestine Exploration Fund, the
Negev Desert and
Lawrence of Arabia. | |||
6 | " Lyon to Marseille" | 10 December 2014 | |
The
Mediterranean coast,
Meres Lyonnaises, the
omelette, the
Palais de la Bourse, the assassination of
Marie François Sadi Carnot,
tandem cycling, the
Tour de France,
light aircraft,
Avignon, the
lavender fields of
Provence,
Châteauneuf-du-Pape,
Arles, the
mistral and supertankers. |
The fourth series aired in 2015. It took Portillo to Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, and Spain.
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " Sofia to Istanbul" | 16 October 2015 | |
The
Balkans, the
Orient Express, the ancient city of
Plovdiv, the region of
Rumelia, the former capital of the
Ottoman Empire (
Edirne), the
Bosphorus,
Turkish delight, and the
Marmaray metro line underneath the Bosphorus. | |||
2 | " Vienna to Trieste" | 23 October 2015 | |
A pre-
Cold War spy, the '
scandal concert' that caused a riot in 1913, the
Habsburg imperial line across the
Semmering Pass,
Graz, the
Lurgrotte Caves,
Slovenia, an earthquake in
Ljubljana, and
cafe culture in Italy. | |||
3 | " Pisa to Lake Garda" | 30 October 2015 | |
The
Maserati sports car, the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, the
Carrara marble used by
Michelangelo,
Bologna, spaghetti bolognese, tagliatelle al ragu, and a high-speed boat trip across Lake Garda. | |||
4 | " Athens to Thessaloniki" | 13 November 2015 | |
The
Acropolis,
moussaka,
baklava, Greek financial crises, the
1896 Summer Olympics, a boat trip through the
Corinth Canal,
Delphi, the
Oracle, the
Little Train of Pelion, the village of
Milies, the
Greek Orthodox Church, and the 1913 assassination of
George I of Greece | |||
5 | " The Black Forest to Hannover" | 20 November 2015 | |
Hansel and Gretel, the
cuckoo clock,
Heidelberg Castle, share-dealing on the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the
University of Göttingen and its
duelling fraternities, the scientists who laid the foundation for Germany's transport systems, the
Göttingen wind tunnel, and model trains. | |||
6 | " Barcelona to Mallorca" | 27 November 2015 | |
The
Spanish Civil War, the
Balearic island of
Mallorca, a 1912 vintage railway and a 1913 tram, a
Catalan people tower, how to make
paella,
Antoni Gaudí, the
Sagrada Família, and the art nouveau
Palace of Catalan Music. |
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " Transylvania to the Black Sea" | 20 September 2016 | |
Transylvania, including
Brașov and
Bran Castle, the
Carpathian Mountains,
Peleș Castle in
Sinaia, the oil refinery at
Ploiești, Romania's most famous composer
George Enescu in the capital
Bucharest, and the oldest inhabited city in Romania,
Constanța on the
Black Sea. | |||
2 | " Zermatt to Geneva" | 27 September 2016 | |
From the
Swiss Alps to the shores of
Lake Geneva. Caught up in a war zone with the
Red Cross and rescued from an
avalanche by a
St Bernard puppy. Takes to the skies in a vintage
biplane and tries
watchmaking James Bond style. | |||
3 | " Tangier to Marrakech" | 4 October 2016 | |
From the Mediterranean port of
Tangier to the Berber city of
Marrakech. Michael visits
Fez, and then heads to
Casablanca and the desert city of the Berbers; he then travels to a souk, finally arriving in Marrakech. | |||
4 | " Genoa to the Brenner Pass" | 11 October 2016 | |
From the
Italian Riviera to the
Austrian Alps. Michael visits remote villages of the
Cinque Terre, then heads to
Parma. Next up is the Alps, stopping off in
Rovereto and ending at the Brenner Pass, home to one of the world's longest rail tunnels. | |||
5 | " Riga to Tampere" | 18 October 2016 | |
The Latvian capital,
Riga, the
Singing Revolution at a ruined 13th century cathedral in
Tallinn, ice swimming, the Finnish composer
Jean Sibelius in
Helsinki, and one of Finland's 180,000 lakes in
Tampere. | |||
6 | " Rotterdam to Utrecht" | 25 October 2016 | |
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " Kyiv to Odesa" | 8 March 2018 | |
Armed with his trusty 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, Michael Portillo travels to the Ukrainian capital,
Kyiv. Portillo learns more of the city's past under
Soviet control. Next stop is
Lviv, the seventh-largest city in
Ukraine. Here he tries making Varenyky, the popular Ukrainian dumplings. Portillo boards the night express to the
Black Sea city of
Odesa. | |||
2 | " Batumi to Baku" | 15 March 2018 | |
3 | " Amritsar to Shimla" | 28 March 2018 | |
4 | " Jodhpur to New Delhi" | 27 March 2018 | |
See Great Indian Railway Journeys | |||
5 | " Mysuru to Chennai" | 3 April 2018 | |
See Great Indian Railway Journeys | |||
6 | " Lucknow to Kolkata" | 10 April 2018 | |
See Great Indian Railway Journeys |
# | Title | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | " Salamanca to Canfranc" | 29 July 2020 | |
Now using a 1936 edition of Bradshaw’s Continental Handbook, Portillo visits the city of
Salamanca, in northwestern
Spain, where he discovers his family’s past during the brutal
Spanish Civil War. In Madrid, he views
Pablo Picasso's famous
Guernica painting. In
Zaragoza, he gets to test drive a train and later learns to dance the
jota. In
Huesca, Portillo meets the son of author
George Orwell, and then travels to
Canfranc Station, near the border with France, and learns of its role during the
Second World War. | |||
2 | " Orléans to Reims" | 5 August 2020 | |
Portillo begins this journey in the historic city of
Orléans, in north-central
France. At
Orléans Sainte-Croix Cathedral, he learns more of its association with Joan of Arc. After arriving at
Tours, he visits
Château de Candé, where King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson's wedding took place. After a trip to the
Le Mans racetrack, Portillo travels to
Versailles. In the French capital,
Paris, he visits the
Arc de Triomphe,
Folies Bergère and the
Eiffel Tower. In the
Champagne region east of Paris, he makes a stop at
Reims Cathedral, before ending his trip at the
Champagne house of
Pommery. | |||
3 | " Berlin to Stuttgart" | 19 August 2020 | |
After arriving in the German capital, Berlin, Portillo is reminded of its turbulent past. He visits the Reichstag and the city's Olympic stadium, site of the 1936 Summer Olympics. After visiting Potsdam, he explores Weimar in central Germany, a city that has twelve buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list. [4] In Nuremberg, Portillo travels to the Zeppelin Field and learns more of the city's WW2 connection with Hitler and the Nazis. His final stop is the industrial city of Stuttgart, where he visits the Porsche factory and learns of the origin of the Volkswagen Beetle. Episode was originally due to air on 12 August 2020 | |||
4 | " Palermo to Mt Etna" | 26 August 2020 | |
Portillo begins his journey in
Palermo, capital of the Italian island of
Sicily. Whilst visiting the
Palazzo delle Poste government building he learns of its connection to
fascist
dictator
Benito Mussolini. Portillo travels to the southern city of
Agrigento, here he explores the ancient
Greek
Temple of Juno, the gateway to the
Valley of the Temples. He then travels inland to
Enna to visit the former
Mafia stronghold of
Gangi. In
Syracuse, Portillo visits the controversial
monolith – Monumento ai Caduti italiani d'Africa (Monument to the Italian Fallen of Africa). The final leg of the journey is to
Mascali, to visit Europe's most active volcano,
Mount Etna. Portillo travels the
Ferrovia Circumetnea
narrow-gauge railway to take in the magnificent vistas around the volcano, before taking the Funivia dell'Etna cablecar to the summit. | |||
5 | " Linz to Bratislava" | 2 September 2020 | |
In
Austria's third-largest city –
Linz, Michael Portillo take the
tram up to
Pöstlingberg. Back in Linz, he samples the city's famous
Linz cake and learns more of
Adolf Hitler's connection with Linz. After delving into the history of
Czechoslovakia's first president,
Tomáš Masaryk, Portillo travels to
České Budějovice, Czech Republic. Next stop is
Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. After alighting at
Prague's main railway station, he takes in the sights, including the
Prague astronomical clock and the
Old Town Square. Michael discovers the history of the little-known
Czechoslovak Legion. After learning more of the story of
Nicholas Winton, who helped save hundreds of
Jews from the
Nazis during
WW2, Michael travels to
Brno. Following a visit to the
Punkva Caves, Portillo ends his journey in
Slovakia's capital –
Bratislava. | |||
6 | " Stockholm to the Arctic Circle" | 10 September 2020 | |
In the final episode of the series, Portillo begins his journey in the
Swedish capital –
Stockholm. After taking in views of the city from the roof of the
Old Parliament House, learns more of the country's
inter-war history onboard a
tram, then heads to the
Royal Institute of Technology to see some of the latest Swedish
technology innovations. He then travels to
Uppsala and visits the city's
university, before catching a train to
Marielund to celebrate the
Swedish Midsummer. Continuing
North to
Mora, Michael visits a
Dala horse factory. After an overnight stay at
Östersund, he visits a
Sámi community in
Vilhelmina. In the
Arctic Circle town of
Kiruna (the northernmost town in Sweden), Michael spends the night at an
Ice Hotel. Portillo's final stop is
Abisko and its
scientific research station that has been conducting important research into
climate change. |
As of 2021, series 1-6 of Great Continental Railway Journeys have been released on DVD by FremantleMedia under licence from Boundless and the BBC.
Series | UK release date |
---|---|
Series 1 | 29 May 2013 |
Series 2 | 28 April 2014 |
Series 3 | 23 March 2015 |
Series 4 | 21 November 2016 |
Series 5 | 13 February 2017 |
Series 6 | 30 April 2018 |
Great Continental Railway Journeys, written by Michael Portillo, was published by Simon & Schuster UK in October 2015. [5]