Genre: | Travel documentary |
Director: | Dave Minchin |
Presenter: | Michael Portillo |
Composer: | Jon Wygens, Joe Donohoe |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Language: | English |
Num Seasons: | 1 |
Num Episodes: | 20 (short versions) 10 (long versions) |
Executive Producer: | John Comerford |
Editor: | Alison Kreps |
Location: | Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore |
Runtime: | 30 minutes (short versions) 60 minutes (long versions) |
Company: | Boundless |
Network: | BBC Two |
Great Asian Railway Journeys is a 20-part BBC travel and history documentary series produced by Boundless[1] and presented by Michael Portillo, a former Conservative MP and Minister of State for Transport.[2] Following the format of the highly successful Great British Railway Journeys and related series with Portillo as presenter, each episode features a railway journey in south-east Asia using Bradshaw's Through Routes to the Chief Cities, and Bathing, and Health Resorts of the World (1913) as a historical reference, in order to consider how the places visited have changed over the preceding century.
During the course of the series, Portillo travels a total distance of 2,500 miles and passes through six countries,[1] beginning with Hong Kong then moving on to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia before reaching his final destination of Singapore.[3] One of the main themes he explores is colonial history, examining the legacy of the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese empires, and how the countries involved gained their independence.[1] [4] Filming for the series was carried out in two stages and took 7–8 weeks to complete.[4]
The programme was first broadcast as 20 30-minute episodes on consecutive weekday evenings on BBC Two, beginning on 27 January 2020.[3] [5] It was re-broadcast weekly as ten 60-minute episodes starting 4 April 2020.[6] [7]
No. | Episode | First broadcast |
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