Country of origin United Kingdom Running time 50 or 60 min Original release 1980 – 1999 | No. of episodes 27 | |
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Great Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figure from the arts or media, would make a journey by train, usually through a country or to a destination to which they had a personal connection. There were four series broadcast on BBC Two between 1980 and 1999, with the shorter series title being used for all but the first. In 2010 a similar series also aired on BBC Two, Great British Railway Journeys.
Contents
- Series 1 Great Railway Journeys of the World 1980
- Series 2 Great Railway Journeys 1994
- Series 3 Great Railway Journeys 1996
- Series 4 Great Railway Journeys 1999
- Great Little Railways
- Great British Railway Journeys
- Great Continental Railway Journeys
- DVD and books
- References
The first series is notable in that it featured the first television travelogue by comedian and comic actor Michael Palin, who would go on to become as well known for his travel series (such as Pole to Pole and Sahara) as for his comedy.
English musician and sound artist Chris Watson worked as an audio recorder for the fourth episode "Los Mochis to Veracruz" of the fourth season. Having spent between five weeks to a month on the train, Watson used field recordings of the journey for his 2011 album El Tren Fantasma.
Series 1: Great Railway Journeys of the World (1980)
Episode summary for Series 1:
Series 2: Great Railway Journeys (1994)
Episode summary for Series 2:
Series 3: Great Railway Journeys (1996)
Episode summary for Series 3:
Series 4: Great Railway Journeys (1999)
Episode summary for Series 4:
Great Little Railways
In 1983 the BBC made a further series on rail travel entitled Great Little Railways, this time exclusively featuring narrow gauge railways. This series relied on narrators rather than presenters who appeared on camera. In some cases, the narrator did not partake in the train journey, and simply recited the writing of that episode's producer.
Great British Railway Journeys
In January 2010 BBC Two broadcast Great British Railway Journeys, a documentary with similar basic idea to Great Railway Journeys but with a different format.
Journeys are mainly focused on Great Britain, and is presented by the ex-politician and broadcaster Michael Portillo. The first series detailed four railway journeys following an 1840 Bradshaw's guide, split into a run of 20 separate episodes. The first series proved a success and a second series followed a year later in January 2011. A third series followed in January 2012, including five episodes on railways in Ireland.
A fourth series aired in January 2013, also with 25 episodes, with the last five episodes focused again on railways in Ireland. A fifth series following in January 2014 with 20 episodes, making a total airing of 115 episodes across the five series.
Great Continental Railway Journeys
From 2012 BBC Two has also broadcast series of Great Continental Railway Journeys, a documentary with the same idea as Great British Railway Journeys, also presented by Portillo. It detailed railway journeys in mainland Europe, following a 1913 Bradshaw's guide to European rail travel.
DVD and books
Although there have been no complete series of Great Railway Journeys released on DVD, Michael Palin's 1980 and 1994 programmes are available individually (BBCDVD1626) and as part of a box set of his collected travel documentaries, The Michael Palin Collection (BBCDVD2214).
Books have been published to accompany the first three series, with a chapter by each of the presenters on their particular journey:
A similar book was also published on Great Little Railways: