8.4 /10 1 Votes8.4
Composer(s) Jon Wygens Original language(s) English No. of episodes 29 (list of episodes) First episode date 8 November 2012 | 8.3/10 IMDb No. of series 5 Executive producer(s) John Comerford | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Similar Great British Railway J, Great American Railroad, Great Railway Journeys, Around the World in 80 Treasures, Around the World in 80 Faiths | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Great Continental Railway Journeys is a British television documentary series presented by Michael Portillo. It sees Portillo travel on the railway networks of continental Europe, referring to his 1913 copy of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, as he describes how the various destinations have changed since Edwardian times. The first series was originally broadcast on BBC Two in 2012, and the fifth series aired in 2016.
Contents
Series 1 (2012)
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.
Series 2 (2013)
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. 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.
Series 3 (2014)
The third series had six journeys, one of which saw Portillo travel on railway networks in modern-day Israel.
Series 4 (2015)
The fourth series aired in 2015. It took Portillo to Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, and Spain.
DVD releases
As of 2015, the first three series of Great Continental Railway Journeys have been released on DVD by FremantleMedia under licence from Boundless and the BBC.
Books
Great Continental Railway Journeys, written by Michael Portillo, was published by Simon & Schuster UK in October 2015.