| Great Asian Railway Journeys | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Travel documentary |
| Directed by | Dave Minchin |
| Presented by | Michael Portillo |
| Composers | Jon Wygens, Joe Donohoe |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 20 (short versions) 10 (long versions) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | John Comerford |
| Production locations | Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore |
| Editor | Alison Kreps |
| Running time | 30 minutes (short versions) 60 minutes (long versions) |
| Production company | Boundless[1] |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two |
| Release | 27 January 2020 |
| Related | |
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Asia using Bradshaw's Through Routes to the Chief Cities, and Bathing, and Health Resorts of the World (1913)[a] as a historical reference, in order to consider how the places visited have changed over the preceding century.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]
