Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways

Episode 1

Chris Tarrant: Railways of the Somme

67 mins

Chris travels across Europe to the Somme and discovers the deadly role steam trains played in World War 1.

Episode 2

Last Train to Transylvania

Chris follows in the footsteps of Jonathan Harker - the character from Bram's Stoker's Dracula - as he takes the same train route to Transylvania that led Jonathan to the gates of the Count's castle, and a terrifying encounter.

Episode 3

The Eastern Express

Chris travels through Turkey, reflecting on the achievements of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - the founder of the republic who oversaw the modernisation of the country and its railways. He begins his journey at Istanbul railway station, the starting point of the Marmaray rail tunnel, which passes beneath the Bosphorus and was built to withstand earthquakes. He also visits Ankara and the volcanic spires of Cappadocia, before heading deep into the mountains and ending in the remote borderlands city of Kars.

Episode 4

Crossing the Emerald Isle

His journey starts in the south-west at Cobh in Co Cork and his first stop is Blarney Castle, where Chris kisses the famous stone, before he heads to the west coast to ride on an old local line saved by an eccentric local millionaire. He heads to Dublin to visit the jail made famous by the Easter Rising, before ending in Belfast, where he ponders what the future may hold for the railways and for Ireland.

Episode 5

The Lunatic Express

Chris arrives in Mombasa on the trail of what was surely the greatest, maddest railway endeavor of the entire colonial era, the building of the so-called Lunatic Line.