Great Railway Journeys
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. The first series, which used the longer title, was broadcast on BBC2 in 1980. After a 14-year hiatus, a further three series were broadcast between 1994 and 1999, using the shorter series title. Similar series were broadcast in 1983, Great Little Railways, and 2010, Great British Railway Journeys.
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 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
Series 1: ''Great Railway Journeys of the World'' (1980)
Episode summary for Series 1:| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Details of Journey | Countries Visited |
| #1.0 | Introduction | 1980-10-23 | - | - | - |
| #1.1 | "Coast to Coast" | 1980-10-30 | Ludovic Kennedy | New York City to Los Angeles | USA |
| #1.2 | "The Long Straight" | 1980-11-06 | Michael Frayn | Sydney to Perth | Australia |
| #1.3 | "Deccan" | 1980-11-13 | Brian B. Thompson | Bombay to Cochin | India |
| #1.4 | "Confessions of a Trainspotter" | 1980-11-27 | Michael Palin | London to the Kyle of Lochalsh | England, Scotland |
| #1.5 | "Zambezi Express" | 1980-12-04 | Michael Wood | Cape Town to Victoria Falls | South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia |
| #1.6 | "Three Miles High" | 1980-12-11 | Miles Kington | Lima to La Paz | Peru, Bolivia |
| #1.7 | "Changing Trains" | 1980-12-18 | Eric Robson | Paris to Budapest | France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary |
Series 2: ''Great Railway Journeys'' (1994)
Episode summary for Series 2:| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Countries Visited |
| #2.1 | "Hong Kong to Ulaanbaatar" | 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, Republic of Ireland |
| #2.5 | "Santos to Santa Cruz" | 1994-02-10 | Lisa St Aubin de Terán | Brazil, Bolivia |
| #2.6 | "Karachi to The Khyber Pass" | 1994-02-17 | Mark Tully | Pakistan |
Series 3: ''Great Railway Journeys'' (1996)
Episode summary for Series 3:| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Presenter | Countries Visited |
| #3.1 | "Crewe to Crewe" | 1996-09-04 | Victoria Wood | United Kingdom |
| #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 |
Series 4: ''Great Railway Journeys'' (1999)
Episode summary for Series 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 |
''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.| Episode No. | Episode Title | UK Broadcast Date | Narrator | Writer | Details of Journey | Countries Visited |
| 1 | "The Gold Rush Line" | 1983-02-15 | Simon Hoggart | Simon Hoggart | White Pass and Yukon Route | Alaska, USA and Yukon, Canada |
| 2 | "The Other Poland" | 1983-02-22 | Brian Blessed | Lyn Webster | Nasielsk to Pułtusk & Komańcza to Cisna | Poland |
| 3 | "Slow Train to Olympia" | 1983-03-01 | Michael Wood | Michael Wood | Athens to Olympia | Greece |
| 4 | "The Dragons of Sugar Island" | 1983-03-08 | Colin Garratt | Colin Garratt | Negros Island | Philippines |
| 5 | "Line of Dreams" | 1983-03-15 | John Shrapnel | Gerry Troyna | Jodhpur and Jaipur | India |
| 6 | "Journey to the Land Beyond the Mountains" | 1983-03-22 | Ray Gosling | Ray Gosling | Douro Valley | Portugal |
| 7 | "The Good and The Quick" | 1983-03-29 | Stanley Reynolds | Stanley Reynolds | Guayaquil to Quito | Ecuador |
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.Other similar series followed: Great Indian Railway Journeys in 2018 and Great Alaskan and Canadian Railroad Journeys and Great Australian Railway Journeys in 2019.
Great Asian Railway Journeys
Starting in 2020, a new series featuring railways and locations in South East Asia is being broadcast on BBC2.Video 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 and as part of a box set of his collected travel documentaries, The Michael Palin Collection. All seven of the 1980 Series 1 programs, including Palin's Confessions of a Train Spotter, were released in 1986 in cooperation with the BBC on VHS tapes by Pentrex, a California railroad video company. They are now long out-of-print, but occasionally are offered from online sellers. The six episodes of 1994's Series 2 were also released on VHS. Often available in a six-pack of programs, though also out-of-print, they are commonly found for purchase online.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., Great Railway Journeys of the World, BBC Books, hardcover,
- Anderson, C. et al., Great Railway Journeys, BBC Books, hardcover,
- Allen, B. et al., More Great Railway Journeys, BBC Books, hardcover,
- Chamberlin, E.R. et al. Great Little Railways, BBC Books, hardcover,