Locations across Essex are set to feature in an episode of a TV show tonight. 

Journalist and presenter Michael Portillo visited the county as part of his Great British Railway Journeys show. 

The documentary series, which airs tonight on BBC2 at 6.30pm, sees Mr Portillo travel the length and breadth of the country by train.

Mr Portillo begins his journey in Colchester before finishing in Chadwell Heath in east London. 

His journey takes him to Abberton Reservoir which began being built the year his Bradshaw’s guidebook was published, 1936. 

He discovers how it was protected during the Second World War by hundreds of mines.

It’s now an important wetland habitat for ducks, swans and water birds, and in the episode Mr Portillo spots a marsh harrier.

In the village of Tiptree, Mr Portillo finds out how, as war loomed once again and men were called up to fight, women stepped up to take their places on the farm as part of a revived Women’s Land Army.

Chairman of Wilkin and Sons Walter Scott said it was a “great pleasure” to welcome Mr Portillo and the crew and described the day as a “great success”.

In spring 1942, there were a total of 42 Land Army girls working on Tiptree Farm.

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From Chelmsford, Mr Portillo heads for the village of Writtle, where he is surprised to discover Britain’s first regular scheduled radio broadcasting station in a tiny hut.

Next stop is Chadwell Heath in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham.

A massive building programme after the First World War resulted in what was, at the time, the largest municipal housing estate in the world.

Mr Portillo learns about the estate from residents past and present.

In a previous episode which aired last night Mr Portillo visited Dedham where he unearthed the story about a nasty brush between two painters.

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Here, art experts explain the antipathy between traditional artist Sir Alfred Munnings and the modern art school established in the village by Cedric Morris.

Mr Portillo ends this leg of his journey in Harwich, where he met two siblings who arrived there as part of the Kindertransport, the mission which brought thousands of Jewish children to safety ahead of Nazi occupation and genocide in 1938.