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Available for over a year

Comedy icon Alexei Sayle travels by train across the stunning countryside of Northern Ireland from Belfast to Londonderry. Alexei’s mission is to break the golden rule of travelling by train and actually talk to his fellow passengers, in a quest for conversations with strangers that will reveal their lives, thoughts, dreams and destinations. Along the way, Alexei holds a finger into the wind of the interests of the great British travelling public. There’s hilarity, humour, sadness and surprise as people reveal what is going on in their lives and, as Alexei passes through familiar towns and cities, he also delves into his own personal stories of a childhood in Liverpool and a long career as a comedian, actor and author. Alexei has a life-long ticket to ride in his DNA, as his father was a railway guard. As a child, Alexei travelled on trains with his mum and dad, not only in the UK but also abroad. While other children in Liverpool at the time thought a trip to Blackpool was a big adventure, Alexei travelled to Paris, experienced the Orient Express, had summer holidays in Czechoslovakia and visited mysterious cities with unpronounceable names in the farthest corners of Europe. In this programme, Alexei meets Robert who is on a trip to Londonderry to explore its history with his family. Robert tells Alexei how, at age 15 after he left school with no qualifications, his father took him to be interviewed by a local butcher for his first job. Now on the verge of retiring age he looks back on spending his whole working life as a butcher, work he disliked at first but grew to love as the local butcher in a close knit community Alexei also meets Sheri and Howard from Florida who spend many months each year travelling the world; William and Heather, who tell Alexei how Belfast has become a hugely successful tourist destination: Gabriel and Kate who are visiting a relative in hospital after a major operation - with Kate describing how she is one of the many cross border workers who live in the Republic but work and pay taxes in Northern Ireland- and Judith and Lisa who are married with a young son and feel they are part of a new future for their country. A Ride production for ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4