Great British Railway JourneysSeason 14, Episode 2 - Urmston To New Islington

Michael Portillo's railway journey through northwest Britain from Preston to Hebden Bridge reaches Greater Manchester, where Michael celebrates new beginnings for the nation in the years after the Second World War. At Trafford General Hospital, he investigates the birth of the National Health Service in 1948. Later, William Roache, star of the nation's longest running soap, Coronation Street, meets Michael to tell him about the first episode, broadcast in 1960.

Great British Railway Journeys was broadcast on SBS ONE at Tuesday 6 January 2026, 12:05.