Ian Hislop Goes Off The Rails

Ian Hislop looks at the background to and impact of the notorious Beeching Report of 1963, which led to the closure of many of Britain's rural railway lines and stations.

Was Dr Richard Beeching a kind of Genghis Khan with a slide rule, ruthlessly axing any bits of our rail network he deemed unprofitable, or was he simply the fall guy for something that had to happen? And what was lost to the British landscape, community and way of life when the railway map of Britain shrank?

With the help of rail experts, campaigners, government advisers, railwaymen and passengers, Ian brings his customary sharp eye and wit to the subject of the Beeching Report and the cuts that followed. And he identifies the moment that the road lobby gained the upper hand, a time when cars meant modernity and freedom and trains were deemed old-fashioned. (Source: BBC Press Office)