Michael Portillo

In the final days of the yuppie decade, the summer of ’89 saw a new type of youth rebellion rip through the cultural landscape, with thousands of young people dancing at illegal Acid House parties in fields and aircraft hangars around the M25. Set against the backdrop of ten years of Thatcherism, it was a benign form of revolution, dubbed the Second Summer of Love – all the ravers wanted was the freedom to party… The rave scene, along with the drug Ecstasy, broke down social barriers and even football hooligans were ‘loved up’, solving a problem the government had never managed to crack. But lurid tabloid headlines and cat-and-mouse games with the police eventually turned the dream sour, as the gangster element moved in at the end of the summer.

Partition, 1921, tells the story of how Ireland came to be to be partitioned from the perspective of the British and unionist politicians who divided Ireland. Michael Portillo examines how this happened, unravelling a web of intrigue woven by the British ruling classes for whom the essential issue was defending Ulster

Former cabinet minister Michael Portillo assesses the legacy and continued influence of Margaret Thatcher on the Conservative Party. He talks with former colleagues about the highs of the Thatcher years and the lows that followed for the Tories, speaking frankly about his own personal regrets and the damage Thatcher inflicted on the party in the wilderness years after John Major's premiership.

Michael Portillo returns with an authored documentary, that uses British state papers to shed fresh light on key events and personalities during the Civil War period in Ireland.

Last December's "Cheriegate" affair did little to abate the rampant public cynicism reserved for politicians - a mistrust evidenced in the turnout at the 2001 general election, which was the lowest for more than 80 years. In this documentary, Michael Cockerell talks to figures including Edwina Currie, Max Clifford, Geoffrey Robinson and Neil Hamilton in an effort to see if spin, sleaze and ministerial failure is to blame, or whether the media's sneering political coverage is most at fault.

Andrew Neil, Michael Portillo and friends with late night political chat.

A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD. The programme is currently hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker from Monday-Thursday, with Chris Evans appearing instead of Baker on Fridays and relief presenters appearing when required.

The Terry and Gaby Show was a daytime television show broadcast on Five on weekday mornings between June 2003 and April 2004, produced by Chris Evans' company UMTV. It was hosted by Terry Wogan and Gaby Roslin. The opening titles featured Gaby dressed up like a movie star driven to the studio in a limo and walking on red carpet to the door. Meanwhile Terry, carrying a briefcase, rode a rickety old bicycle across London and parked it outside the back door before quietly entering the building through said back door. The show was not well known for the guests who appeared on it, but rather for its many bloopers or double entendres

Following a fictional rape case in a real court room, argued by leading barristers and presided over by a real judge.

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Creating Christianity: A History is an eight-part television series produced in 2009 by Pioneer Productions for Channel 4.The episodes, each with a different presenter, cover a range of personal views on issues from the religion's inception in Palestine and its progression in the Roman empire, the Crusades, English Reformation, colonial dissemination and the Age of Enlightenment, to the impacts of science and 21st-century views.Not to be confused with the BBC six-part series, A History of Christianity.)

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 of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

Michael Portillo travels on the great train routes of Europe, as he retraces the journeys featured in George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide.

Michael Portillo examines the role of the railways in World War I and travels through Britain and Europe uncovering stories from the Great War.

Michael Portillo crosses the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America, armed with Appleton's General Guide to the United States, published in 1879.

Restaurant critic Giles Coren and writer and comedian Sue Perkins experience the food culture of years gone by.

Guided by a century-old Bradshaw’s Handbook of Indian, Foreign and Colonial Travel, Michael Portillo embarks on a railway adventure across India and takes in the extraordinary variety of the Indian landscape.

Great Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figure from the arts or media, would make a journey by train, usually through a country or to a destination to which they had a personal connection. There were four series broadcast on BBC Two between 1980 and 1999, with the shorter series title being used for all but the first. In 2010 a similar series also aired on BBC Two, Great British Railway Journeys.

Each programme is dedicated to one of the Top Ten Great Britons voted for by the public throughout the last year. Well-known modern-day Briton try to persuade you that their choice is the one to vote for.

Michael Portillo heads for the Last Frontier of the United States armed with his 1899 Appleton's Guide-Book to Alaska.

Michael Portillo explores Canada, armed with his Appleton's Guidebook.

Armed with his 1913 Bradshaw’s Handbook to the Chief Cities of the World, Michael embarks on six new railway journeys across spectacular Australia.

This topical debate series based on Any Questions? typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer pre-selected questions put to them by a carefully selected audience.

Michael Portillo is in Southeast Asia, armed with his 1913 Bradshaw's Handbook. It will lead him on a spectacular 2,500-mile railway adventure across six countries. He explores towering megacities and magnificent mosques.

Michael Portillo charts the War of Independence in Ireland, following the journey from the Peace Conference in Versailles to the historic ceasefire in 1921.

Portillo tells the story of the former British Empire largely through the legacy of hidden buildings that played an important part in history.

Portillo's Hidden History of Britain sees former UK politician Michael Portillo investigating abandoned buildings around Britain.

Documentary series about the current crisis in the Conservative party.

Documentary series about the current crisis in the Conservative party.

Michael Portillo, a British journalist, broadcaster and former politician, begins a south-west coastal pilgrimage, travelling through Devon and Cornwall.

From the sea lochs of Scotland to the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, seasoned train traveller Michael Portillo immerses himself in the magnificent scenery of the nation's coastal regions.

The series is mainly focused on social issues and current affairs stories around the world. International current affairs documentaries, replacing "Correspondent".

Michael Portillo embark on an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery, exploring the dramatic mountain range that straddles the border between France and Spain, the Pyrenees. The four-part series is a real adventure for Michael as he walks a stretch of the 270 mile trail through the Pyrenees, from the Bay of Biscay on the Atlantic coast in the West to the shores of the Mediterranean in the East.

Michael Portillo takes a look through the national archives to discover different stories that have been hidden in previously classified documents.

Michael Portillo explores the region of Andalucia in southern Spain, visiting six of his favourite locations in the area.

Michael takes us to his favourite European cities.