Great Railway Journeys

Clive Anderson takes a humorous look at the contradictions and confusions of present-day China as he makes his way from Hong Kong, via Shanghai, Beijing and the Great Wall, to end up in Ulaan Baatar in Mongolia.

Finally, in South Africa, Rian Malan escapes riot-torn Cape Town and makes his way across the country to Johannesburg, talking to people of all races and wrestling with South Africa's violent past and increasingly ominous future. He ends his journey amid the bizarre splendour of the Palace of the Lost City hotel in Bophuthatswana.

Former Kirov prima ballerina Natalia Makarova explores the railways of Russia, taking in Volgograd, Samarkand and the river Volga, and dancing on the railway itself

Palin's second Great Rail Journey (1994) takes him from the ancient walled city of Londonderry to the most western tip of Ireland. He travels his 'family line' as he attempts to trace his great grandmother who left Ireland for the USA over 150 years ago. His trip through still a war-torn Northern Ireland takes him on to Belfast before headng south to Dublin, the capital of the Irish Republic, and on to Wexford, Waterford, the little village of Buttevant and finally Kerry's Dingle Bay, the most western point of Ireland.

In South America Lisa St Aubin de Terán travels from Santos on the coast of Brazil, near Sáo Paulo, over the mountains and plains of Brazil to the Pantanal Swamp, a wilderness of lush vegetation, and on to the city of Santa Cruz, home of the cocaine barons in Bolivia. She vividly describes the contrasts of beauty and poverty which she finds in the two countries.

In Pakistan, Mark Tully journeys from Karachi in the south to the Khyber Pass on the Afghan border in the north, making a diversion to travel to Quetta via the spectacular Bolan Pass on one of the most challenging lines built by British engineers anywhere in the world.

Victoria Wood makes a round trip to the north of Britain from Crewe, taking in both the east and west coasts, and Thurso, the most northerly point possible by train.

Ian Hislop travels from Kolkata, the former capital of the British Raj and present seat of the Marxist government of West Bengal, to Rajasthan.

Michael Portillo explores his roots in a trek across the railway networks of Spain.

Fergal Keane travels through Japan and receives earthquake training and etiquette lessons.

Rick Stein crosses Mexico from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

Nick Hancock crosses Cuba, battling hurricanes as well as the crumbling infrastructure.

Hollywood star Danny Glover rides the oldest line in Africa, the Bamako Express.

Stephen Tompkinson relives the days of colonial train travel as a pampered passenger on the Eastern and Oriental Express.