2017

S1.E1 ∙ The World's First Tube Line

Sun, Apr 02, 2017

Engineer and urban explorer Rob Bell examines the hidden story of how the world's oldest underground railway was built. He begins by exploring the construction of what is known today as the Northern Line, which runs 36 miles through London and connects the boroughs north and south of the Thames.

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S1.E2 ∙ The History of the Central Line

Sun, Apr 09, 2017

Rob Bell examines the history of the Central Line, which at 46 miles is the longest in the Tube's network and connects east with west - transporting 260 million passengers a year. Rob learns that Bank's platforms are curved to avoid the Bank of England's vaults, and investigates a disaster during the Second World War in which 173 people were killed at Bethnal Green station while trying to shelter from an air raid.

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S1.E3 ∙ The World's First Underground

Sun, Apr 16, 2017

Rob Bell examines how London's overcrowding problem was the issue that prompted the building of the world's first underground railway, which linked Paddington and a terminus at Farringdon and went into operation in January 1863. Rob lives out a boyhood dream of riding on one of the original steam trains that carried passengers through tunnels, and learns how unpleasant it must have been.

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S1.E4 ∙ The First Modern Tube Line

Sun, Apr 23, 2017

Rob Bell discovers how the Piccadilly Line played an important part in saving the Tube from bankruptcy, as well as changing the face of public transport. He visits an abandoned station beneath Piccadilly Circus, where he discovers just what was needed to modernise this much-loved stop in the 1920s when a surge in motorised buses drew passengers away.

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