Portillo's Hidden History of Britain

London Live

5:00 AM to 6:00 AM

Friday 28 June

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In the late 1930s there were almost 5,000 cinemas in Britain. Bradford's New Victoria was one of the most impressive buildings from that golden age, when thousands came at a time to experience the magic of the silver screen. Boasting a 3,000-seat cinema, decadent ballroom and state-of-the-art technology that even washed the air, it closed down for the final time in the year 2000. On a visit to its abandoned shell, Michael Portillo peels back the layers to discover what dream palaces like this meant to generations of Britons who came to lose themselves in movies and music