Greatest British railway journeys - Michael Portillo

It is now over a decade since the much-loved Great British Railway Journeys series set off on its incredible run discovering the cultural, social and engineering landscape of the United Kingdom through the prism of George Bradshaw's Handbook to rail travel. Veteran politician and ex cabinet minister Michael Portillo has since presented eleven seasons of this ever-popular show on BBC Two, covering every part of the existing train network in Britain, as well as others that were closed as a result of the Beeching Report in 1963. Across a decade of these journeys, Portillo has celebrated how every corner of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was opened up by the railway line as a result of the Industrial Revolution, thus giving fans a unique insight into our shared past of train travel since the Victorian era.

With the anniversary, this new collection will celebrate Michael's top fifty journeys from the hundreds he has covered, adding more insight and analysis to some of the greatest railway lines, stations, bridges, viaducts and tunnels the Victorians built to create the world we now live in. From Paddington Station to the Clifton Suspension Bridge; the Southend Pier line to the milk wagons departing from Blake Hall Station. An unrivalled narrative to be treasured.

Greatest British Railway Journeys is both a celebratory and charming ride through our country's beloved history - all from the unique position of a train seat.