TV Guide Yesterday Saturday

Simon recalls some of the most dangerous experiences of his travels, from coming under fire in war-torn Mogadishu to squaring off with a female wrestler in Mexico City. Among the past destinations featured are a police cell in the far east of Russia, and the programme also looks back at his encounters with ambulance crews in San Salvador and anti-smuggling police in Italy

On the last leg of his journey through north-west England, Michael Portillo makes a clean sweep in Ashley, Cheshire, where in Victorian times the new middle classes set up home in suburban villas with multiple chimneys swept by children. In Macclesfield, he finds the end of the Silk Route and tries his hand at screen printing. Then after stoking the fire on the steam-powered Churnet Valley Railway, the former politician alights at Froghall, Staffordshire, heading for Alton Towers to trace the 19th-century origins of the theme park

Michael Portillo embarks on a new railway journey along the south coast of England. Beginning in the port of Dover, he takes a plunge into the English Channel, inspired by the example set by a brave 19th-century sea captain. A miniature steam train one third the size of a conventional locomotive conveys him from Romney Marsh to Dungeness, and in Eastbourne, he learns how the 7th Duke of Devonshire managed to market the town's attractions to the refined upper-crust of Victorian London. The first leg of his trip concludes in eccentric style at the Glyndebourne opera festival on the South Downs

Michael Portillo travels from Newhaven to Worthing, examining the nation's hidden defences, and taking in two magnificent engineering achievements - the Ouse Valley Viaduct and the Clayton Tunnel. High on top of a favourite Victorian beauty spot he learns how trains carried hordes of day-trippers to fly kites, and finds a novel way to pick tomatoes in Worthing

Michael Portillo arrives in Littlehampton, where he discovers how Victorian engineers defended the town's residents from cholera. He stops off at Gosport and experiences the lethal firepower unleashed on the French during in an arms race. In the New Forest, the presenter visits Florence Nightingale's family home, before finishing at Beaulieu, where he seizes the opportunity to drive the first motor car

Henry Cole and Simon O'Brien travel Britain to find items to fix up and flog on to make a handsome profit for their owners. Simon recycles some historic oak, while Henry comes unstuck when he tries to get to grips with an old Ford Escort

Victor and Margaret are packing for a holiday in Athens - but their preparations are delayed by an unhelpful electricity board representative, as well as an escaped snake. Starring Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie, with Clive Mantle

The Meldrews return from an overseas holiday to find yet another disaster awaiting them - their home has been demolished. Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie star

Victor and Margaret agree to pet-sit a tortoise for a friend who ought to know better, and an anniversary outing to the theatre ends in disaster. Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie star

Fred visits the North East, a region rich in transport history, to explore the development of Britain's railways, from the first steam locomotives to the record-breaking Mallard. A visit to York's National Railway Museum offers the chance to ride a replica of Stephenson's Rocket, while at Ffestiniog Railway he learns about the computer-aided design process used for new locomotives

The former steeplejack recalls the golden age of shipbuilding, examining the skills of engineers who turned Britain into one of the leading manufacturing nations, and visits Bristol to pay tribute to his personal hero Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He also travels to Scotland for a voyage on the paddle steamer Waverley

The development of steam power, from the earliest experiments in the ancient world to modern-day nuclear power stations. Fred travels to Cornwall to investigate the use of early engines to pump water out of the tin mines

The revolution in transport brought about by steam power, charting the technology's development from the earliest colliery railways, through the first passenger train services and to the end of an era in the 1960s