Great Asian Railway Journeys

Great Asian Railway Journeys
GenreTravel documentary
Directed byDave Minchin
Presented byMichael Portillo
ComposersJon Wygens, Joe Donohoe
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes20 (short versions)
10 (long versions)
Production
Executive producerJohn Comerford
Production locationsHong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore
EditorAlison Kreps
Running time30 minutes (short versions)
60 minutes (long versions)
Production companyBoundless[1]
Original release
NetworkBBC Two
Release27 January 2020 (2020-01-27)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

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Asia using Bradshaw's Through Routes to the Chief Cities, and Bathing, and Health Resorts of the World (1913)[a] as a historical reference, in order to consider how the places visited have changed over the preceding century.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]

  1. ^ a b c d Our Shows. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Gove, Michael (1995). Michael Portillo: The Future of the Right. London: 4th Estate. p. 160. ISBN 1857023358.
  3. ^ "Great Asian Railway Journeys – Episodes". BBC. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  4. ^ a b Dunn, Gemma (25 January 2020). "TV preview: Great Asian Railway Journeys". The Herald. Retrieved 5 February 2020.


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