Movies Logo
Series 10
February 4, 2019

Series 10

01. Warrington to Preston

Warrington to Preston

Armed with his Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo embarks on a new journey through Britain’s industrial heartland. Starting at Warrington, Michael then heads to Huyton and Preston.

30min
February 4, 2019

02. Blackburn to Manchester

Blackburn to Manchester

Michael Portillo continues his journey through Britain’s industrial northwest, visiting Blackburn, Nelson and the renovated 19th-century Manchester Victoria station.

30min
February 5, 2019

03. Manchester to Elsecar

Manchester to Elsecar

Armed with Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo continues his journey through Britain's industrial heartlands, leaving Manchester for Oldham, Edale and a private family railway line.

30min
February 6, 2019

04. Maltby to Hinckley

Maltby to Hinckley

Armed with his Bradshaw’s Guide, Michael Portillo continues his tour of Britain’s industrial heartlands, heading for Maltby, Derby and on to Hinckley.

30min
February 7, 2019

05. Birmingham to the Potteries

Birmingham to the Potteries

Armed with his Bradshaw’s guide, Michael Portillo visits Birmingham, then travels on to Cradley Heath and Landywood, before reaching the Potteries at Stoke-on-Trent.

30min
February 8, 2019

06. Newry to Portadown

Newry to Portadown

Beginning in Newry, Michael Portillo finds a specially chartered train that would deliver demonstrators campaigning for Irish Home Rule to a rally in the town.

30min
February 11, 2019

07. Belfast to Portrush

Belfast to Portrush

Michael Portillo continues his rail journey through Northern Ireland. In Belfast’s grand Edwardian City Hall, Michael investigates the scene of a watershed moment in Irish history.

30min
February 12, 2019

08. Larne to Dumfries

Larne to Dumfries

Leaving from the seaport of Larne, Michael Portillo reaches Stranraer and the Mull of Galloway, where in a lighthouse built by Robert Stevenson, he discovers a magnificent machine.

30min
February 13, 2019

09. Glasgow to Cumbrae

Glasgow to Cumbrae

Michael Portillo explores the industrial heartland of Glasgow and its mighty River Clyde before taking the ferry to the island of Cumbrae. With his early 20th-century Bradshaw's guide in hand, he is put to work behind the scenes at Glasgow's circular subway, explores the future of shipbuilding on the Clyde and hears how one woman led a successful mass protest against high rents in the city's notorious tenements. On the island of Cumbrae, Michael investigates a forgotten Scottish expedition to the Antarctic and discovers the beauties of intertidal marine life.

30min
February 14, 2019

10. Glasgow to Connel Ferry

Michael Portillo falls into line with the University of Glasgow’s Officer Training Corps. Founded in the early 20th century, the Corps flourishes today and Michaels joins students for drill. From Glasgow, Michael heads west along the Firth of Clyde to Helensburgh, where he discovers a pioneering group of artists known as the Glasgow Boys. The idyllic West Highland Line takes Michael deep into the Highlands to Inveraray and the ancestral home of the Clan Campbell and the Dukes of Argyll. Here, he discovers an unconventional royal marriage between Queen Victoria’s spirited daughter, Princess Louise, and a commoner, the Marquess of Lorne, later the 9th Duke of Argyll. Michael’s final stop is Connel Ferry, near Oban, where, on the Achnacloich Estate, he discovers Lily, a pedigree Highland calf. Michael learns how Lily’s herd has been owned continuously by the Nelson family since 1901 and hears how the breed has become an icon of the Highlands.

30min
February 15, 2019

11. Warwick to Radley

Warwick to Radley

In Warwick’s medieval castle, Michael Portillo uncovers the scene of an extravagant and scandalous ball, which changed the life of its hostess, Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick.

30min
February 18, 2019

12. Reading to Cookham

Reading to Cookham

Messing about in boats is the name of the game in Henley on Thames, where Michael Portillo slips into a launch to hear about the world-famous regatta.

30min
February 19, 2019

13. Ealing Broadway to South Kensington

Ealing Broadway to South Kensington

In the Queen of the Suburbs, Ealing, Michael Portillo finds comedy at the home of British cinema and is transformed for the silver screen by expert hair and make-up.

30min
February 20, 2019

14. Piccadilly Circus to Gravesend

Piccadilly Circus to Gravesend

At Covent Garden’s Royal Ballet School, Michael Portillo hears how in 1909 a Russian ballet company took London by storm.

30min
February 21, 2019

15. East Malling to Rye

East Malling to Rye

In Folkestone, Michael Portillo hears how the town coped with an influx of more than 100,000 refugees from Belgium fleeing the German invasion in 1914.

30min
February 22, 2019