The BEST episodes of Great British Railway Journeys season 14
Every episode of Great British Railway Journeys season 14, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Great British Railway Journeys season 14!
Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways have changed it, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.
#1 - Tewkesbury to Filton
Season 14 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/21/2023
Michael visits the fairytale castle of Eastnor, at the foot of the Malvern Hills, before heading to the Severn Estuary and Filton, the centre of Britain's postwar aviation industry.
#2 - Brandon to Cambridge
Season 14 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/30/2023
At RAF Lakenheath, Michael Portillo discovers a slice of America dropped into the British countryside. In the market town of Brandon on the border between Norfolk and Suffolk, he visits Quorn Foods to find how a seemingly modern meat substitute emerged out of a post-war food crisis. Michael ends his journey in Cambridge, where he studied during the 1970s.
#3 - Paddington to Ongar
Season 14 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/28/2023
Michael Portillo ventures deep underground onto London's newest railway - the Elizabeth Line - enjoying a smooth ride from Paddington to Tottenham Court Road. Emerging into the sunshine in Bedford Square, Michael recalls the choking smogs which plagued the capital during the 1950s. He learns how smoke-free zones were introduced to tackle the problem and, high above the capital at the top of the BT Tower, discovers how the capital's air quality is monitored today.
#4 - Derby to Hinckley
Season 14 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/17/2023
Michael Portillo explores the postwar Britain of his youth on a railway journey from the Midlands to the West Country, beginning in the city of Derby.
#5 - Coventry to Leamington Spa
Season 14 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/18/2023
In Coventry, Michael recalls the destruction by the Luftwaffe of the city’s Gothic cathedral in November 1940, before heading to Leamington Spa to visit the Guide Dogs for the Blind National Centre.
#6 - Preston to Rawtenstall
Season 14 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/19/2023
Michael Portillo explores the Britain of his youth, starting at Preston's Fulwood Barracks and heading to Bury Bolton Street Station in Greater Manchester.
#7 - Urmston to New Islington
Season 14 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/20/2023
Michael Portillo's railway journey reaches Greater Manchester, where he celebrates new beginnings for the nation in the years after the Second World War. At Trafford General Hospital, he investigates the birth of the National Health Service. A retired physiotherapist recalls her part in the historic event of July 5, 1948. Coronation Star tells Michael about the first episode of the soap, broadcast live in 1960. And at the city's Science and Industry Museum, the presenter encounters a replica of the Baby, which was created in 1948 - the first machine in the world to run a stored program and the forerunner of all modern computers.
#8 - Wakefield to Leeds
Season 14 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/22/2023
In Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Michael Portillo visits the National Coal Mining Museum for England at Caphouse Colliery. In Leeds, he heads for the Chapeltown area to investigate the origins of the Leeds West Indian carnival in 1967 and tries his hand on the steel drums.
#9 - Tilbury to Barbican
Season 14 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/26/2023
Michael Portillo travels from London's Docklands to the Barbican, examining the story of the arrival at Tilbury in 1948 of the Empire Windrush, which brought more than a thousand passengers from the Caribbean to work in Britain. In Limehouse, Michael reflects on the Labour Party's landslide victory at the post-war general election of 1945 and hears what drove new prime minister Clement Attlee to strive for social change.
#10 - Long Itchington to Moseley
Season 14 - Episode 13 - Aired 7/19/2023
Michael Portillo’s railway journey reaches the heart of the Warwickshire countryside, where work is underway the biggest project of new railway infrastructure in Britain for a hundred years: HS2.
#11 - Wolverhampton to Cheltenham
Season 14 - Episode 14 - Aired 7/20/2023
At the African and Caribbean Heritage Centre in Wolverhampton, Michael finds out about the impact of Enoch Powell's 1968 speech on immigration in Wolverhampton and across the nation.
#12 - Oldham to Wakefield
Season 14 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/21/2023
Michael Portillo travels by tram to the former cotton town of Oldham on the edge of the Peak District. Here he visits Oldham Coliseum, the town's Victorian repertory theatre, and hears about the lifting of censorship by the Lord Chamberlain's Office in the late 1960s. He then goes hiking before a visit to Sheffield, where he attends a knife-making workshop. He ends this part of his journey admiring the striking post-war sculptures of Barbara Hepworth at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield.
#13 - Waterloo to Regent's Park
Season 14 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/27/2023
Michael Portillo visits several of London's most famous locations, beginning on the South Bank, where the 1951 Festival of Britain drew more than eight and a half million visitors to admire fantastical buildings designed to inspire and celebrate the best of British in art, science and industry. After a spin on the London Eye, built to celebrate the millennium, Michael takes the London Underground to Chelsea to find out about Elizabeth David, one of the most influential cookery writers of the 20th century, and also heads to Covent Garden and Regent's Park.
#14 - Felixstowe to Norwich
Season 14 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/29/2023
Michael Portillo begins the latest leg on the seafront at Felixstowe, where in January 1953 the town was engulfed in the worst flooding to hit England in the 20th century. In Norwich, he admires the Norman Cathedral, then traces the history of the postcode.
#15 - Bradford to Hebden Bridge
Season 14 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/23/2023
Michael Portillo continues his post-war exploration of northwest England in Bradford, Shipley and Hebden Bridge. In Bradford's Centenary Square, he encounters local literary giant, JB Priestley. At Shipley station, Michael discovers a nature reserve in the middle of the car park. Finally the Calder Valley Line delivers the presenter to the photogenic station at Hebden Bridge.