Sudbury to Southend

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. 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, Michael comes face to face with a medieval politician, takes a rail tour of Victorian freak show hot spots, and visits Southend to ride one of the world's first electric railways.