Elgin to Loch Ness

Michael Portillo is in the Scottish Highlands on the last leg of his rail journey through 1930s Britain. He begins in Elgin's port, the coastal town of Lossiemouth, where James Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Party's first prime minister was born. Michael meets his granddaughter to visit the family home and discovers what shaped his politics.

On the outskirts of Lossiemouth, Michael finds a remote boarding school established in the 1930s and famous today both for its unusual ideas and its royal former pupils. He hears how the school's founder fled Nazi Germany and joins its fully-working fire service, manned entirely by pupils, for training.

Michael's last stop is the city of Inverness, where first he uncovers the work of female photographer MEM Donaldson. She documented a Highland way of life that was rapidly disappearing at the time of his guide.

Michael's journey ends at one of the most notorious bodies of water in the world, Loch Ness. He joins the Deep Scan research team as they scour the deep for signs of the elusive monster.