Great Railway Journeys
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| Great Railway Journeys | |
|---|---|
| Format | Travel |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 27 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50 or 60 min |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two |
| Original run | 1980 – 1999 |
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.
Contents |
[edit] Series
[edit] Series 1: Great Railway Journeys of the World (1980)
Episode summary for Series 1: [1]
| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Details of Journey | Countries Visited |
| #1.1 | Introduction (extracts from forthcoming episodes in the series) | 1980-10-23 | - | - | - |
| #1.2 | "Coast to Coast" | 1980-10-30 | Ludovic Kennedy | New York to Los Angeles | USA |
| #1.3 | "The Long Straight" | 1980-11-06 | Michael Frayn | Sydney to Perth | Australia |
| #1.4 | "Deccan" | 1980-11-13 | Brian Thompson | Bombay to Cochin | India |
| #1.5 | "Confessions of a Trainspotter" | 1980-11-27 | Michael Palin | London to the Kyle of Lochalsh | England, Scotland |
| #1.6 | "Zambesi Express" | 1980-12-04 | Michael Wood | Cape Town to Victoria Falls | South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia |
| #1.7 | "Three Miles High" | 1980-12-11 | Miles Kington | Lima to La Paz | Peru, Bolivia |
| #1.8 | "Changing Trains" | 1980-12-18 | Eric Robson | Paris to Budapest | France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary |
[edit] Series 2: Great Railway Journeys (1994)
Episode summary for Series 2: [2]
| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Countries Visited |
| #2.1 | "From Hong Kong to Ulan Bator" | 1994-01-13 | Clive Anderson | Hong Kong, China, Mongolia |
| #2.2 | "Cape Town to the Lost City" | 1994-01-20 | Rian Malan | South Africa |
| #2.3 | "St Petersburg to Tashkent" | 1994-01-27 | Natalia Makarova | Russia, Uzbekistan |
| #2.4 | "Derry to Kerry" | 1994-02-03 | Michael Palin | Northern Ireland, Ireland |
| #2.5 | "Santos to Santa Cruz" | 1994-02-10 | Lisa St Aubin de Terán | Brazil, Bolivia |
| #2.6 | "Karachi to the Khyber" | 1994-02-17 | Mark Tully | Pakistan |
[edit] Series 3: Great Railway Journeys (1996)
Episode summary for Series 3: [3]
| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Countries Visited |
| #3.1 | "Crewe to Crewe" | 1996-09-04 | Victoria Wood | England |
| #3.2 | "Aleppo to Aqaba" | 1996-09-11 | Alexei Sayle | Syria, Jordan |
| #3.3 | "Great Zimbabwe to Kilimatinde" | 1996-09-18 | Henry Louis Gates Jr | Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania |
| #3.4 | "The High Andes to Patagonia" | 1996-09-25 | Buck Henry | Argentina |
| #3.5 | "Mombasa to the Mountains of the Moon" | 1996-10-02 | Benedict Allen | Kenya, Uganda |
| #3.6 | "London to Arcadia" | 1996-10-09 | Ben Okri | England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece |
| #3.7 | "Halifax to Porteau Cove" | 1996-10-16 | Chris Bonington | Canada |
[edit] Series 4: Great Railway Journeys (1999)
Episode summary for Series 4: [4]
| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Details of Journey | Countries Visited |
| #4.1 | "India East to West" | 1999-01-05 | Ian Hislop | Calcutta to Rajasthan | India |
| #4.2 | "Granada to Salamanca" | 1999-01-12 | Michael Portillo | See episode title | Spain |
| #4.3 | "Tokyo to Kagoshima" | 1999-01-19 | Fergal Keane | See episode title | Japan |
| #4.4 | "Los Mochis to Veracruz" | 1999-01-26 | Rick Stein | See episode title | Mexico |
| #4.5 | "Guantanamo to Pinar del Rio" | 1999-02-02 | Nick Hancock | See episode title | Cuba |
| #4.6 | "St Louis to Dogon Country" | 1999-02-09 | Danny Glover | See episode title | Senegal, Mali |
| #4.7 | "Singapore to Bangkok" | 1999-04-06 | Stephen Tompkinson | See episode title | Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand |
[edit] 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:
- Frayn, M. et al (1981), Great Railway Journeys of the World, BBC Books, hardcover, ISBN 0-563-17903-1
- Anderson, C. et al (1994), Great Railway Journeys, BBC Books, hardcover, ISBN 0-563-36944-2
- Allen, B. et al (1996), More Great Railway Journeys, BBC Books, hardcover, ISBN 0-563-38717-3
[edit] External links
- Series 1 at www.tvfactual.co.uk
- Series 2 at www.tvfactual.co.uk
- Series 3 at www.tvfactual.co.uk
- Series 4 at www.tvfactual.co.uk
