Great British Railway Journeys

- Season 5

(2014)

Michael finds out how the world's first industrialised city also gave birth to a revolutionary political movement and how railway workers began one of the most successful football clubs in the world.

Michael discovers Victorian entrepreneurship in Wigan, traces the beginnings of the industrial revolution in Bolton and drives a hundred year old commercial vehicle in Leyland.

Michael celebrates Victorian trade with the Preston Guild then heads to Rochdale, where he discovers a pioneering movement to improve the lot of working families.

Michael begins this leg of his journey in the Worth Valley in Yorkshire at the home of the three Bronte sisters, who were early investors in the railway.

On the last leg of his journey from a notorious slum in Manchester to the grandeur of a ducal seat in Derbyshire, Michael tunes into the music of the mills and collieries of Victorian England.

In this first leg, Michael finds out what happened to the once proud Euston Arch and braves the watery depths under Camden Town to see how goods were transported by rail, road and canal.

Michael continues his journey north on Robert Stephenson's first inter-city railway line from the capital. Along the line at Bletchley he meets one of World War II's most secret agent.

In Rugby, Michael discovers the legacy of Dr Thomas Arnold and trains with the school's 1st XV before heading to Coventry, where he finds out how the city's craftsmen learned to adapt to survive.

Michael finds out about the hunt for the king's remains and how scientists managed to prove it was him. From Rothley, Michael works his passage on the Great Central Railway to Loughborough.

On the final leg of his journey along the first intercity line to be built from the capital, Michael rediscovers a once famous poet in Nottingham. In Mansfield he travels on a railway line.

Michael learns to set table aboard the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth before she sets sail and discovers how Cunard steamers began by transporting post across the Atlantic.

At Winchfield, Michael discovers the vast carriage which carried the Duke of Wellington's coffin to his funeral at St Paul's Cathedral in 1852 and hears how the Duke's stallion also received full military honours when he was buried.

Michael finds out how demand from a growing number of rail commuters fuelled the development of the modern printing press and learns how to print on an iron press.

At Lacock Abbey Michael discovers how the world's first photographic negative was made and learns how to make a print. He then travels on to Bristol to visit the Victorian Clifton Zoo.

Michael's first destination is the elegant spa town of Cheltenham, where he discovers a very early locomotive carriage which ran not on rails but on the road and is lucky enough to get behind the wheel.

In Norwich's Norman castle Michael uncovers the Victorian public's gory fascination with crime and punishment and finds out how campaigners such as Elizabeth Fry, who was born in Norwich, worked to improve conditions for prisoners.

Michael continues his journey from the east coast to the south coast beginning in the port of Ipswich, capital of the farming county of Suffolk.

Michael begins this leg at Barkingside, where a Victorian philanthropist called Dr Thomas Barnardo made it his life's work to transform the lives of destitute children.

In Faversham in Kent, at one of the country's oldest surviving breweries, Shepherd Neame. Michael discovers how the brewery invested heavily in the railways and even ran rolling stock with its own smart livery taking beer to London.

Michael discovers the history behind the extraordinary Pavilion at Brighton and learns that Queen Victoria was not an admirer of the Prince Regent's flamboyant taste.