Great American Railroad Journeys is a BBC travel documentary series presented by Michael Portillo and aired on BBC Two. Using an 1879 copy of Appleton's Guidebook to the railroads of the United States and Canada, Portillo travels across the United States primarily by train, though at times using other forms of transportation where necessary. On his journeys, he makes stops to learn how places, events and people, and the railroads of the 19th century influenced the country's growth into a major superpower.
When originally broadcast, each series consisted of 30-minute episodes, shown on consecutive weekday evenings. To date, two series of the programme have been broadcast since its debut on 1 February 2016.
Video Great American Railroad Journeys
Episodes
Series 1 (2016)
In his first series, Portillo took two railroad journeys in the north-east of the United States, spanning a total of 15 episodes. His first journey took him across the US State of New York, travelling around New York City and Long Island before heading to Niagara Falls via New York's state capital of Albany and Buffalo. His second journey took him across the Mid-Atlantic States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, travelling from Philadelphia to Jamestown, via Washington, D.C..
Series 1 was repeated later in the year in a revised schedule (described as "Reversions") which combined and re-edited two episodes of the original broadcasts to create a series of 1-hour episodes; as series 1 consisted of fifteen 30-minute episodes, the "Brooklyn to Montauk" episode was revised as an extended version that included additional content not seen in the original broadcast schedule. The Series 1 DVD contains only the original fifteen episodes.
New York City to Niagara Falls
Philadelphia to Jamestown
Series 2 (2017)
In his second series, Portillo took two railroad journeys around the midwestern and central regions of the United States, spanning a total of 20 episodes. His first recreated the experience that would have been felt by those travelling across the 19th century American Frontier, beginning in St. Louis, Missouri and travelling towards Kansas City, Dodge City, Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, and finishing at the Grand Canyon. His second focused on discovering how the modern Midwest was made, beginning in the Twin Cities and following the Mississippi River, before heading towards Chicago, and then turning back southwards towards Minneapolis, eventually rejoining the Mississippi at the finishing point at Memphis.
St. Louis, Missouri to the Grand Canyon
The Twin Cities to Memphis
Series 3 (2018)
Massachusetts to Toronto
Maps Great American Railroad Journeys
Books
A book to accompany the series, written by Michael Portillo and published by Simon & Schuster UK, was released in February 2017.
Notes
References
External links
- Great American Railroad Journeys at BBC Programmes
- Great American Railroad Journeys at Internet Movie Database
- BBC series to capture Village, Long Island Rail Road and American history at The Garden City News
- BBC TV show filmed at Historical Society Museum at The Garden City News
- BBC Film Crew at NYS Capitol Tomorrow at Capital Region Chamber
Source of article : Wikipedia
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