The BEST episodes of Great British Railway Journeys season 16
Every episode of Great British Railway Journeys season 16, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Great British Railway Journeys season 16!
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 - Aspatria to Carlisle
Season 16 - Episode 9 - Aired 4/17/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway journey through Cumbria and Dumfriesshire takes him to the rolling countryside around Aspatria to meet a couple who swapped their old life for organic dairy farming.
#2 - Birmingham New Street to Wednesbury
Season 16 - Episode 14 - Aired 4/24/2025
Arriving in Birmingham, Michael Portillo heads to Curzon Street for a tour of the HS2 terminus still under construction. In the Newtown area, he visits the oldest private manufacturing firm in the UK.
#3 - Romford to the Blackwater Estuary
Season 16 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/29/2025
Michael’s exploration of Essex continues in Romford, where he visits a state-of-the-art rail operating centre. On the River Blackwater, he visits the Ross Revenge, home of Radio Caroline.
#4 - Colchester to Chappel and Wakes Colne
Season 16 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/2/2025
Michael's exploration of Essex is drawing to a close. He visits Colchester, which was first mentioned in AD77 and proudly claims to be Britain’s oldest recorded town.
#5 - Maryport to Penrith
Season 16 - Episode 8 - Aired 4/16/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway journey through Cumbria and Dumfriesshire heads to the hills as he follows in the footsteps of the Lakeland poets.
#6 - Dudley to West Bromwich
Season 16 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/23/2025
Michael Portillo boards a barge on the Dudley Canal, discovers an ancient seabed and explores racial tension in 1960s Smethwick.
#7 - Witham to Saffron Walden
Season 16 - Episode 19 - Aired 5/1/2025
Arriving in the Essex market town of Witham, Michael heads into the countryside to visit Terling Place, one of the county’s great country houses.
#8 - Chelmsford to Tollesbury
Season 16 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/30/2025
Michael’s exploration of Essex reaches Chelmsford, where the city's bishop relates her story of escape from Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
#9 - Loughton to Audley End
Season 16 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/28/2025
Michael Portillo embarks on a journey across Essex. He heads to the ancient woodland of Epping Forest and learns of Audley End House's role as a secret wartime military school.
#10 - Shrewsbury to Telford
Season 16 - Episode 11 - Aired 4/21/2025
Michael Portillo re-enacts the Battle of Shrewsbury, explores the town's beautiful Gothic cathedral and rides the Telford Steam Railway’s flagship locomotive.
#11 - St Bees to Grange-over-Sands
Season 16 - Episode 7 - Aired 4/15/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway tour continues as he travels along the scenic Cumbrian Coast Line. He visits an iron ore mine turned into an arts centre and discovers the cradle of Quakerism.
#12 - Windermere to Sellafield
Season 16 - Episode 6 - Aired 4/14/2025
Michael Portillo begins a railway tour of the spectacular border counties of Cumbria and Dumfriesshire, starting in the stunning Lake District National Park.
#13 - Chichester to Amberley
Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/11/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway tour of the green and pleasant landscape between the North and South Downs, known as the Weald, nears its conclusion.
#14 - Gatwick Airport to Royal Tunbridge Wells
Season 16 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/10/2025
Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the spectacular countryside of the Weald in Surrey, Sussex and Kent continues - this time, aboard the Gatwick Express train.
#15 - Solihull to Birmingham International
Season 16 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/25/2025
On the final leg of his Midlands tour, Michael Portillo travels to Solihull, the home of iconic British brand Land Rover. Later, he visits the childhood neighbourhood of JRR Tolkien.
#16 - Dumfries to Auchinleck
Season 16 - Episode 10 - Aired 4/18/2025
Michael concludes his journey from Cumbria to Dumfriesshire by crossing the Solway Firth into Scotland, where he visits the beautifully preserved last home of Scotland’s greatest poet, Robert Burns.
#17 - Paddock Wood to Frant
Season 16 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/7/2025
Michael Portillo takes to the rails to explore one of Britain’s oldest surviving landscapes, the woods and pasture of the Weald in south east England.
#18 - Hildenborough to Robertsbridge
Season 16 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/8/2025
Michael Portillo’s rail exploration of the historic wooded region of south east England, known as the Weald, continues from Tonbridge, at the heart of the area's rail network.
#19 - Dorking to Lingfield
Season 16 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/9/2025
Michael Portillo’s railway tour of the Weald reaches the spectacular Surrey countryside, where he finds a surprising connection to the darker reaches of the universe.
#20 - Ironbridge to Coseley
Season 16 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/22/2025
Michael Portillo is in Ironbridge Gorge on the River Severn, a hotbed of 18th-century innovation which features the world's first coke blast iron furnace.