Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. In a series of five epic journeys, Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us and what remains of Bradshaw's Britain.

Following the route of the Great Eastern Line, which ventures from the edge of England to the centre of the country's financial capital, London, Michael discovers the grave robbing history of Great Yarmouth, tries his hand at working a Victorian swing bridge in Reedham and takes to the air to discover how a Victorian rail guidebook helped aviators in the Second World War. Show less