Michael Portillo: 200 Years Of The Railway | Preview (BBC Two)

September 2025 marks 200 years since the first steam-hauled passenger train ran on a public railway, from Stockton to Darlington, in 1825. To celebrate this incredible anniversary, Michael Portillo is set to take audiences on a journey through time with a two-part series: 200 Years of The Railway.

Produced by Naked West, a Fremantle label, the two one-hour specials will see Michael Portillo travel by train to the Northeast and Northwest of England and investigate what the railways have done for us over the past 200 years and explore what the railways' role could be in the future.

In the first episode, Michael follows the route of the pioneering Stockton and Darlington Railway in north east England - the world’s first public railway to carry fee-paying passengers using steam locomotives. He learns how the Stockton and Darlington proved that railways could work - sparking a transport revolution across Britain and beyond.

He visits key locations in the story of this pioneering railway, including the town of Shildon, from where the train hauled by Locomotion No.1 set off in 1825; Bishop Auckland, where he joins thousands at a spectacular outdoor show to launch the 200th anniversary and drives a replica of the original train; and the Tyne and Wear Metro, where he discovers a new fleet transforming travel in north east England.

Then, Portillo continues his celebration of the birth of the modern railway. He looks at the transformative effect of railways on Britain by travelling the world’s first intercity line between Liverpool and Manchester, which opened in 1830.

Michael begins in Derby at ‘The Greatest Gathering’, the largest ever collection of locomotives in one place, drawing crowds of 40,000 people. In Manchester, he steps back in time to the world’s first intercity line. Walking the Bridgewater Canal, he hears how the cotton trade drove its creation. At Quarry Bank Mill, he learns how the railway boosted production and changed lives.

At the National Football Museum, he discovers how trains helped turn football into a national game. He visits Chat Moss, where George Stephenson built a floating railway over a bog, and stops at Rainhill to see where Rocket famously proved that steam locomotives would shape the future of rail.

In Liverpool, he hears how novelist Elizabeth Gaskell captured the spirit of the railway age. And in Yorkshire, he traces the rise and fall of George Hudson, the ‘Railway King’. Michael ends his journey back in Derby, at the spectacular gathering of locomotives from the last 200 years.

John Comerford, Head of Naked West, a Fremantle label and Co-Executive producer adds: “This year marks a momentous anniversary of the first steam-hauled passenger train. We are delighted to be celebrating this extraordinarily significant moment in history, not only with a brand-new commission, 200 Years of the Railways, but also with the return of Great Continental Railway Journeys and Great British Railway Journeys”

Michael Portillo: 200 Years Of The Railway begins Tuesday 16th September at 8pm on BBC Two.