BBC series Great Railway Journeys shooting across the Czech lands

Film crews from BBC have wrapped episodes of the series “Great Railway Journeys” and “Getaways” in Brno, Blansko, České Budějovice, and Prague.

The book gave the timetables of the Continental railways and eventually grew to over a thousand pages, encompassing a guidebook and hotel directory. In 1914 following the outbreak of the First World War, the book was discontinued. A final edition came out in 1939. It was reissued in 2012.

“Getaways” is broadcast on BBC1 in Northern Ireland and Scotland and features destinations that can be reached directly from those locations.

“The series shot in the Czech regions, which offers extraordinary tips for trips, will be seen by millions of viewers across the UK,” said Jan Herget, director of the state agency CzechTourism.

“The British come to us most often for recreation, cultural monuments and gastronomy. Last year, more than half a million arrived,” he added.

In its half-hour episode devoted to the Czech Republic, “Getaways” compares the advantages of the South Moravian capital and the capital. Brno is depicted as a modern lively city with an excellent gastronomic scene, and Prague as a traditional tourist destination full of historical monuments.

The Czech episode of the “Great Continental Railway Journeys” series will take viewers to Brno, Blansko, and České Budějovice, to show how the Czech Republic has changed over the past hundred years. The episode will be aired next winter and should be watched by an estimated two million viewers.

Both shows address the growing interest in train travel across Europe.

“Despite the fact that rail travel is not an inexpensive business in the UK, there is a growing year-on-year interest in rail transport. The British love to go by train and it is no wonder they sent the first steam locomotive to the rails,” said Kateřina Hobbs, director of CzechTourism’s foreign office in London, who prepared the BBC travel series in the Czech Republic.