Railways of the Great War with Michael Portillo - BBC series

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

This series was first shown in August 2014 and I don't think it was mentioned on the forum at that time.

It has recently finished a repeat run on BBC4 and is currently (as at 21/04/2015) available on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) iPlayer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04dbrkp/railways-of-the-great-war-with-michael-portillo-1-a-railway-war-begins

There are five 30 minute episodes. The blurb from episode 1:

A Railway War Begins
Railways of the Great War with Michael Portillo

Episode 1 of 5

World War I was a railway war. Michael Portillo finds out how the railways helped to precipitate a mechanised war, shaped how it was fought, conveyed millions to the trenches and bore witness to its end. He takes to historic tracks to rediscover the locomotives and wagons of the war that was supposed to end all war and hears the stories of the gallant men and women who used them in life and in death.

Michael travels through Britain and northern Europe uncovering railway stories from the Great War. He begins his quest in the French city of Metz on European tracks built with war in mind, charts the birth of the railway war at a small station in Luxembourg and discovers how Britain's railways coped with the challenge of sending thousands of troops to join the conflict from Southampton. Finally, he returns to France to learn how the early war of movement gave way to the stalemate of the trenches.

I've probably sat in the same chair as Mr Portillo. I notice he has no drink though. Perhaps he forgot his Bite Card.