THE Isle of Man will feature on BBC2's Great British Railways TV programme later this month.
The show will be broadcast on Friday, January 27 at 6.30pm.
In a series of five epic journeys, TV presenter, journalist and former Conservative politician and UK cabinet minister Michael Portillo travels the length and breadth of the British Isles.
In week four of the series he will be seen travelling through the north of England from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, crossing the Pennines to the Lake District before completing the journey to the Isle of Man.
Michael sets sail from Heysham to the Island where he discovers the horse trams of Douglas, the 19th century secrets of the Laxey Waterwheel and the Victorian history of the Snaefell mountain railway.
Talkback Thames, the production company, visited the Isle of Man in August 2011 to film for the popular travel documentary.
The main subject of the programme is about how the Victorians travelling to the Island would have been surprised at the feats of engineering in local infrastructure for both industry and leisure.
The television crew was assisted by the Department of Economic Development, Department of Community, Culture and Leisure, Manx National Heritage and the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company during its visit.
Member of the Department of Economic Development responsible for Tourism Geoff Corkish MHK said:
"Once again the Isle of Man will feature on a nationwide television programme and this time having special interest to railway enthusiasts.
"It will provide tremendous profile to our Island and surely encourage visitors to our shores to see for themselves our unique transport systems and our beautiful scenery and lifestyle."
Chief executive officer of the Department of Economic Development Colin Kniveton said:
"The Department of Economic Development is pleased to have worked with Talkback Thames in covering the Isle of Man in the series and we are looking forward to the benefits gained from this and other programmes like it.
"Encouraging TV crews to visit is part of our overall PR strategy and will be important in raising the Island's profile as a unique and attractive visitor destination as we continue through 2012."
The Department of Economic Development assisted a TV crew from BBC Scotland in July 2011.
They visited the Island to film the programme All Over the Place, a CBBC programme in which presenter Ed Petrie travels around the British Isles to find out about some of the weird and wonderful things happening.
The Isle of Man will feature in episode one of the series on Wednesday, January 25 and episode five on Wednesday, February 22 at 5.45pm.
In the first episode they visit the Joey Dunlop statue at the Bungalow on the Mountain Road where they talk about Joey Dunlop's achievements and the TT Races and episode five features the Tin Bath Races at Castletown.
Television programmes featuring the Island last year included World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides, BBC The One Show, BBC Spring Watch, Come Dine with Me and Granada TV's Where's Fred.
