Canterbury to Alexandra Palace

S11 E11: Steered by his 1930s Bradshaw’s guidebook, this week Michael Portillo explores the east of England in the inter-war period. Beginning in Canterbury in Kent, Michael treads the boards as he uncovers the political message behind a play, published in 1936, inspired by the 12th century murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket. In Maidstone, he learns of the international origins of the most British symbol of remembrance before paying his respects at a war memorial based on London’s Cenotaph. Outside Sevenoaks, Michael visits the country home of one of his political heroes, Sir Winston Churchill and discovers how the 1930s were wilderness years at Chartwell, as Churchill warned against Nazi German appeasement. As Michael enters the capital, there’s a visit to the brand-new London Bridge station before he heads to Alexandra Palace, the birth place of television.