A new series of Secrets of the London Underground returns in July

Rail historian Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway will be returning to the TV screens for a new series of Secrets of the London Underground in July.

(c) UKTV

Tim and Siddy will be able to explore disused parts of London’s tube network, with access to abandoned stations,  preserved passageways hidden right under passengers’ noses; to enormous depots brimming with marvels of modern engineering.

At the London Transport Museum and Depot, Tim and Siddy experience tube carriages through the decades and rifle through original blueprints, poster art and photographs in their incredible archives.

The 3rd series of Secrets of the London Underground starts on Tuesday 4th July 2023, repeating weekly on Yesterday TV or UKPlay for the next ten weeks.

Episode 1 – Camden: Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway explore the labyrinthine Camden Town station, and the forgotten wartime shelter built beneath. Plus, Siddy visits a station which hides a lost river.

Episode 2 – South Kensington and Marylebone: Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway explore the disused areas of South Kensington station, with platforms reclaimed by nature and wartime uses. Siddy also heads to Marylebone to reveal the original features on the platforms and the tube infrastructure hidden within the walls of a hotel.

Episode 3 – Green Park (Dover Street) and Down Street: Tim and Siddy are heading to a station you won’t find on modern-day tube maps – Dover Street, now known as Green Park. During the Second World War the abandoned passageways and lift shafts of the original station had an incredible second life as the base for the London Passenger Transport Board whose work kept London’s transport moving against all odds. Next, Siddy delves into the abandoned corridors and platforms of Down Street, closed to the public in 1932, and the scene of some of the most pivotal decisions of World War II.

Episode 4 – British Museum and Leinster Gardens: Tim and Siddy embark on a night-time track walk to the abandoned station of British Museum. The pair discover 1930s hand-painted adverts and white tiling. During the second world war it served as a shelter and spine-tingling clues to the children who stayed there during The Blitz can still be seen. Siddy also visits the houses of Leinster Gardens.

Details of the remaining six episodes will be released closer to their broadcast.

Episode 5 – West Ashfield & Oval: Tube fans would be right in thinking there are 272 Underground stations on the network, but Siddy Holloway has such unique access, today she is taking Tim Dunn to the 273rd. This station only has a west bound platform, no customers and no members of the public will ever board its trains. Situated on the 3rd floor of an unassuming tower block in west London, this is TFL’s state of the art training facility.

Siddy also heads to one of the oldest and friendliest deep level stations at Oval, while at the depot Tim explores the wild world of experimental and innovative trains and has a mind-blowing experience when he samples hot sauce, homegrown on a tube station platform.

Episode 6 – Leicester Square and Hyde Park Corner: Tim and Siddy are exploring the station in the beating heart of London’s theatreland – Leicester Square. Siddy reveals the extraordinary previous life of the station office – as a display cabinet for V&A antiquities. The pair then ride what was once the world’s longest escalator at 54m, explore layers of the stations design history hidden in unassuming cupboards and see the unique wartime communication infrastructure still stored in abandoned lift shafts. Tim learns more about the work to preserve the networks heritage from TFL’s Ann Gavaghan.

Siddy visits the tourist hot spot of Hyde Park Corner, where the stunning Oxblood Leslie Green station building has had a renaissance as a high-end hotel. She delves into its abandoned cross passages, adorned by stunning original tiles and reveals enormous fans and gloriously aging stair shafts.

Back at the Depot Tim admires some of the museum’s iconic poster collection, enticing people to visit the theatre and crucially travel by tube during off-peak hours. Finally, Tim goes back in time with Assistant Director Chris Nix to explore innovations in station clocks.

Episode 7 – Heathrow and Swiss Cottage: Tim Dunn and Siddy Holloway pack their bags to go on a trip around the sprawling Heathrow Airport underground stations – the first ever underground rail link between an airport and a city. They start their trip at the original Heathrow Central, now Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3, stopping off at Hatton Cross, with its eye-popping 70’s mosaic tiling and speedbird logos, before they finally reach the futuristic 80’s design of Terminal 4. Finally, they embark on a special trip along the Heathrow loop, the tube tunnel link which passes underneath the runway. Climbing through the driver’s cab, they alight at a secret platform to explore a ventilation shaft and emerge above ground to the sound of aircraft.

Next, Siddy heads to north west London to delve into Swiss Cottage station, one of the first stations to be built on the expanding Metropolitan Railway. With those original platforms closed to the public 80 years ago, she explores what remains of that forgotten world.

At the museum Tim has a ride on an Elizabeth Line train simulator and at the depot he meets contemporary artist Mark Wallinger who created the ubiquitous labyrinths which adorn the walls at 270 Underground stations.

Episode 8 – Shepherd’s Bush: Shepherd’s Bush is a fabulous example of how the network has changed and adapted over time and Siddy Holloway knows where all the best bits are, ready to show Tim Dunn. Just off the platforms the pair discover Victorian glass tiles, long abandoned passenger tunnels from the original Central London Line, epic vents with an eye-level view of people on the platforms and a lift shaft with an escalator through the middle. They visit a gigantic cavern hidden within the body of the station and the perfect example of how nature sometimes beats the best laid engineering plans.

Siddy delves into Elephant and Castle, a small station that packs a big punch. She discovers what it takes to be at the helm of a train from driver Jennifer, reveals the only original 1890 tiles still visible to the public and the spooky discoveries hidden behind a platform door.

At the depot Tim hears about one of the most captivating parts of TFL – the Art on the Underground programme and has the time of his life with Assistant Director Chris Nix as they rev up the special road and rail vehicle currently being restored by the museum.