DS Forums

 
 

great british railway journeys 2017 starting 2nd Jan


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 12-12-2016, 14:39
treetree
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,624

Looks like Michael is starting out in style


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087xtyz
treetree is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 12-12-2016, 15:34
owenmahamilton
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 705
I'm waiting for a second series of Great American Railroad Journeys seeing as the book to accompany the series that comes out at the end of next month covers the whole journey from New York to San Francisco (according to Amazon that is).
owenmahamilton is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2016, 15:35
farmer bob
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: The United Kingdom
Posts: 14,997
Great news. Thanks
farmer bob is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2016, 19:52
ftv
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 31,434
Only the BBC could make a successful programme out of a man reading from a railway timetable
ftv is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-12-2016, 23:27
briggsy1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 155
Who is the better host - Michael Portillo or Chris Tarrant? In the immortal words of Harry Hill: There's only one way to find out.. FIGHT!!
briggsy1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 01:30
fayebeatle
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 871
Who is the better host - Michael Portillo or Chris Tarrant? In the immortal words of Harry Hill: There's only one way to find out.. FIGHT!!

Hehehe

Easy how to tell...no advertising on BBC so a quick win for Michael !
fayebeatle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 08:15
nan_tha
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 156
Who is the better host - Michael Portillo or Chris Tarrant?
Easy call for me: Michael Portillo. That's got nothing to do with politics or anything like that; simply that I prefer his knowledgeable, grown-up but relaxed and (most importantly) not dumbed-down style. Plus, his jackets and trousers are often a scream!
nan_tha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 10:00
lundavra
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,455
Who is the better host - Michael Portillo or Chris Tarrant? In the immortal words of Harry Hill: There's only one way to find out.. FIGHT!!
Not watched Tarrant's programme but isn't he more interested in the trains whilst Portillo just uses the trains as a background to the programmes - his programmes are effectively a modern TV version of Down Your Way.
lundavra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 12:52
Jaycee Dove
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,668
I'm waiting for a second series of Great American Railroad Journeys seeing as the book to accompany the series that comes out at the end of next month covers the whole journey from New York to San Francisco (according to Amazon that is).
As there are only 3 weeks of GB series then it looks like they might do what they did last year and move on to two or three weeks of US journeys in the same slot straight after these from 23 January.
Jaycee Dove is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 13:39
owenmahamilton
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 705
As there are only 3 weeks of GB series then it looks like they might do what they did last year and move on to two or three weeks of US journeys in the same slot straight after these from 23 January.
I didn't realise that (I have never watched the British or European series), that sounds good, thanks.
owenmahamilton is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 14:17
Nobbyspiles
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 223
Never liked him when he was in politics, but find him interesting and entertaining on his railway journeys.
Nobbyspiles is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 15:13
Moxey
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 488
Never liked Portillo either and find it hard to put "clear blue water" (as he would put it when in his pomp) between his political career and the inoffensive schtick he employs nowadays. There are umpteen people who could present a well-researched BBC programme like this, eg John Sergeant, Jim Naughtie etc etc who don't have Portillo's baggage, pardon the pun.
Moxey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 15:29
grassmarket
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 23,310
Actually, what they need to do is a series of great British Bus Journeys. There are some crackers. I'd recommend Orkney Route X1 - St Margaret's Hope to Stromness, and Isle of Skye 57, Portree - Uig - Portree. Some of the most wonderful scenery in Britain, and rich in history and legend.
grassmarket is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 17:04
Grouty
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: The Nth East
Posts: 21,589
Thanks for the heads up, love watching this
Grouty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 17:10
Jaycee Dove
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,668
Actually, what they need to do is a series of great British Bus Journeys. There are some crackers. I'd recommend Orkney Route X1 - St Margaret's Hope to Stromness, and Isle of Skye 57, Portree - Uig - Portree. Some of the most wonderful scenery in Britain, and rich in history and legend.
Recently they did the complete run of a bus journey across Yorkshire and the Ribblehead viaduct without commentary. Just as ride on the bus as if you were a passenger.

There is a similar thing on this Christmas featuring the full steam train ride on the Flying Scotsman around Shropshire.

They have done canal journeys in the style of MPs shows and Julia Bradbury's one series of railway walks along now closed lines keeps getting repeated. No idea why they have not made more of those.

Bus journeys would be interesting - though I suspect they think these lack the romance of rail travel.

Somehow cannot see Michael Portillo on a battered old bus in his multi coloured suits.
Jaycee Dove is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 19:17
Shrike
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Nottingham
Posts: 11,472
Somehow cannot see Michael Portillo on a battered old bus in his multi coloured suits.
Perhaps one for Jeremy Corbyn when he retires.
Shrike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2016, 19:31
mrbouffant
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 131
Let's hope Michael's not on any Southern trains, lest the episodes consist of him waiting forlornly on an empty platform and/or wedged under somebody's armpit on an overcrowded 4-car unit from Tattenham Corner.
mrbouffant is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2016, 01:35
Borefest
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 6,473
I saw him filming by Waverley Station Edinburgh, this October, he was wearing a bright yellow jacket
Borefest is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2016, 06:10
Horace Wimp
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 159
Only the BBC could make a successful programme out of a man reading from a railway timetable
Only the English would watch this TV equivalent of muesli
Horace Wimp is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2016, 09:38
lundavra
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 25,455
Only the English would watch this TV equivalent of muesli
It is preferable to watching only the TV equivalent of Corn Flakes.
lundavra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 16:14
iamian
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Up North
Posts: 718
Whatever you think of Portillo's politics he refused to sanction the closure of the Settle and Carlisle line and supported the railways much more than Thatcher who saw the car and road transport as the future.

Portillo makes for a better programme than Tarrant IMHO. Portillo works well with the people he meets without ever appearing patronising and without ever feeling he needs to dumb down anything.
The only thing to be said in favour of Tarrant is the the railways themselves tend to be more interesting.
iamian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-12-2016, 18:40
Caxton
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 24,058
It is preferable to watching only the TV equivalent of Corn Flakes.
or watching the umpteenth repeat of that dumb arse American drivel Friends. Thank heavens BBC did not buy that junk.
Caxton is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-12-2016, 15:18
owenmahamilton
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 705
As there are only 3 weeks of GB series then it looks like they might do what they did last year and move on to two or three weeks of US journeys in the same slot straight after these from 23 January.
That appears to be correct, I just received the Radio Times that starts on New Years Eve and it has an article in the travel section about it and it says it returns later in January.
owenmahamilton is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2017, 11:22
treetree
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,624
what a great first episode to start the new series
treetree is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-01-2017, 12:26
swingaleg
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 76,804
what a great first episode to start the new series
brilliant wasn't it !

That engineering company, Riley & Sons, who put the engine back together and who's boss Michael interviewed, is only a couple of hundred yards from the school I went to !

just by our old playing fields............
swingaleg is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 05:36.