Trains with Pete Waterman

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

Documentary series revealing the inner workings of Britain's railways, introducing the track-workers, train guards, drivers, police officers and management teams determined to keep the country moving.

Manchán Magan embraces the ethos of slow travel, taking the time to get to know people and places, and experiencing local customs and traditions.

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.

Scotland's rail network crosses a landscape voted the best in the world. This series follows the staff and enthusiasts safeguarding these iconic routes.

La passion des trains

Professor Alice Roberts takes a train ride that covers 600 years of the Ottoman Empire. Her mission is to learn about this vast empire that started with a dream in the 14th century.

These are the Secrets of the Railways, railroads constructed during turbulent periods and associated with mankind's ugliest deeds.

Railway adventures across Australia follows the exploits of Scott McGregor on his quest to find the famous, unusual and unique trains and stories at the end of the line.

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.

Restoration experts restore iconic rail carriages back to their former glory

Intercity 125 – Britain's own original high-speed train – rules the rails today, but this national icon is set to give way to hi-tech imports. It's time to celebrate the heroic story of a design classic that saved Britain's railways from terminal decline.

David Choe hitchhikes his way across these United States by (other people's) trains, cars, and boats.

Climb up on the footplate and join historian and host Dan Cruickshank for a railway adventure like no other as he investigates how trains helped shape modern Britain. This three-part series resurrects an exhilarating age and kicks off by focusing on the railways' role in defeating Hitler, before unearthing the incredible engineering achievements of Isambard Brunel and embarking on a trip on the earliest steam engines.

From picturesque scenery and rich history to sumptuous spa rooms and culinary artistry, Alan Cumming revels in the Royal Scotsman's splendour on an opulent odyssey through the heart of Scotland.

A major political, historical, human and economic fact of the 20th century, the Gulag, the extremely punitive Soviet concentration camp system, remains largely unknown.

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

The railway age in the Austrian Empire began with the construction of the horse-drawn railway from Linz to Budweis. Plans soon followed to connect the imperial capital of Vienna with the iron and coal deposits in northern Moravia and with the port city of Trieste. In 1837 the Kaiser Ferdinands Nordbahn was opened, in 1857 the Semmeringbahn planned by Karl Ritter von Ghega, overcoming one of the most difficult obstacles on the way to the Adriatic. The crossing of the Alps by train, such as over the Arlberg or the Brenner, is still considered a unique engineering masterpiece. The expansion of the railway network brought epochal changes. Goods and people circulated on an unprecedented scale – life accelerated. It had succeeded in connecting the northern crown lands such as Silesia or Bohemia and Moravia with Carinthia, Tyrol or the coastal region.

British comedian and travel enthusiast Griff Rhys Jones hops on some of Australia's most impressive long distance trains, travelling across the expansive outback and along spectacular coastlines.