Great British Railway Journeys: Series 4 DVD – Michael Portillo 

All 25 episodes from the fourth series of the documentary in which Michael Portillo traces historic rail journeys across Britain, taking as his guide ‘Bradshaw’s Handbook’. The episodes are: ‘High Wycombe to Stratford-Upon-Avon’, ‘Birmingham to Stafford’, ‘Stoke-On-Trent to Winsford’, ‘Dudley to Bridnorth’, ‘Welshpool to Aberystwyth’, ‘Portsmouth to Gomshall’, ‘Woking to Clapham Junction’, ‘London Victoria to Abbey Wood’, ‘London King’s Cross to Peterborough’, ‘Spalding to Grimsby’, ‘Stirling to Invergowrie’, ‘Dundee to Aberdeen’, ‘Dufftown to Aviemore’, ‘Inverness to Plockton’, ‘Invergordon to John O’Groats’, ‘London Paddington to Warminster’, ‘Salisbury to Castle Cary’, ‘Taunton to Minehead’, ‘Lynton and Lynmouth to Exeter’, ‘Exmouth to Newton Abbot’, ‘Killarney to Cobh’, ‘Charleville to Waterford’, ‘Kilkenny to Athy’, ‘Newbridge to Roscrea’ and ‘Athlone to Galway’.

Armed with his copy of Bradshaw’s Victorian Railway Guidebook Michael Portillo takes to the tracks and over a series of five journeys he travels from coast to coast to see what of Bradshaw’s Britain remains.;This 5 DVD set features 25 episodes covering 5 different journeys;High Wycombe to Aberystwyth;Portsmouth to Grimsby;Stirling to John O’Groats;Paddington to New Abbott;Killarney to Galway;Michael’s first journey follows the track that help fuel the Industrial Revolution. Beginning in the rolling Chiltern Hills he makes his way through to the stunning Severn Valley and finishes at the Victorian sea-side resort of Aberystwyth. He then travels from port to port from the centuries old naval hub of Portsmouth to the historic Grimsby docks. On Michael’s third journey he explores the awe inspiring scenery of rural and coastal Scotland from Stirling in the east and ending at ‘the start of Great Britain’ John O’ Groats. The fourth journey of the series he retraces the footsteps of the master engineer of the Great Western Railway Isambard Kingdom Brunel beginning at London Paddington Station through to Newton Abbott in Devon the scene of one of Brunel’s heroic failures. In Michael’s final journey he uses ‘Bradshaw’s Handbook for Tourists in Great Britain and Ireland’ as he journeys through the Republic of Ireland from Killarney to Galway on the Atlantic Coast.