Longniddry to Edinburgh

S8, E5: Steered by his Bradshaw’s guide book, Michael Portillo helps himself to a ukulele lesson in Haddington, birthplace of the Victorian self-improvement guru, Samuel Smiles. In Musselburgh, he gets a taste of life as a fishwife before exploring the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, where a popular 19th century mode of transport is making a comeback. The city’s proud medical heritage, highlighted in his guide book, takes Michael to the Royal College of Surgeons, where he discovers the macabre history of body snatchers and murderers who contributed to the science of anatomy. At the University of Edinburgh Medical School, Michael learns from the Queen’s Surgeon in Scotland how students use sophisticated technology to study anatomy today.