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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Episode 1

    • June 25, 1992
    • BBC One

    Tonight's programme includes a gas explosion that buries a woman under a block of flats; a birthday treat which goes disastrously wrong when a skydiver passes out 12,000ft up; and a runaway motorboat that causes havoc and injury off the coast of Devon.

  • S01E02 Episode 2

    • July 2, 1992
    • BBC One

    Tonight's programme features a video recording of what happened when a 5-year-old boy toppled into a zoo's gorilla pit. As ambulance crews and a zoo keeper tried to save him, an eyewitness filmed the rescue bid. Plus a bizarre accident that left a motorist impaled on a 40ft scaffolding pole; and the fishing trip which put two men at the centre of a massive search and rescue operation.

  • S01E03 Episode 3

    • July 9, 1992
    • BBC One

    Tonight's programme reveals how a Sunday afternoon stroll turned into a desperate struggle against time and tide, and how one man risked his life by driving his blazing truck away from a crowded town centre.

  • S01E04 Episode 4

    • July 16, 1992
    • BBC One

    In tonight's programme, when a lift jams between floors in an Edinburgh tower block, a young man panics and climbs onto the lift roof. What happens next leaves him hanging over a 100ft drop as firefighters begin one of their most daring rescues. And a look at how two navy divers set out to save 40 men, women and children from a sinking ship off the Devon coast, but end up having to be rescued themselves.

  • S01E05 Episode 5

    • July 23, 1992
    • BBC One

    This week a young Scottish couple and their baby are trapped in their car by giant waves. Coastguards are forced to mount a daring and unusual rescue. In Wales, when a climbing accident leaves one man dangling by a rope from a sheer cliff face, his friend goes for help and faces an agonising ordeal.

  • S01E06 Episode 6

    • July 30, 1992
    • BBC One

    Tonight: a dramatic rescue in the skies above Wales as a trainee pilot has to be "talked down" to safety after the death of his instructor; and in Somerset a farmer fights his way back to health after an accident that leaves him with a broken back.

  • S01E07 Episode 7

    • August 6, 1992
    • BBC One

    Tonight: a diver's face mask shatters after an accident and with precious oxygen escaping from his tanks, his workmates have only a few seconds to get him to the safety of a diving bell; and a Birmingham woman jumps from her burning home carrying a baby in her arms, when flames cut her off from the rest of her children.

Season 2

  • SPECIAL 0x4 Series 1 Compilation (1)

    • February 12, 1993
    • BBC One

    Reviewing some of the real-life stories of heroism and bravery from the last series of 999, reconstructed by the emergency services, actors and the people involved. Tonight's programme includes: a gas explosion that buries a woman under a block of flats, and a runaway motorboat off the coast of Devon.

  • SPECIAL 0x5 Series 1 Compilation (2)

    • February 19, 1993
    • BBC One

    Revised versions of real-life stories of heroism and bravery from the last series, reconstructed by the emergency services, actors and the people involved. Tonight: a 4-month-old baby who's nearly washed out to sea; a trainee pilot who has to be "talked down" after the sudden death of his instructor; and a woman who jumps from her burning home carrying a baby in her arms. Plus tips on how to protect your home from fire.

  • S02E01 Episode 1

    • April 13, 1993
    • BBC One

    Featured tonight are a 5-year-old girl who was trapped in a crushed car with just her hand poking from the wreckage; an ambulanceman who has to overcome his own fear of heights to save a casualty 100 feet up a radio mast; and a young man who survived underground for four hours in a 22-inch sewer pipe.

  • S02E02 Episode 2

    • April 20, 1993
    • BBC One

    Featured tonight are a father and son who nearly drown when their car lands upside down in a river, a helicopter that goes out of control leaving a mountain rescuer dangling helplessly on the end of a winch, and a young man in Edinburgh who is buried alive after a gas explosion.

  • S02E03 Episode 3

    • April 27, 1993
    • BBC One

    Featured tonight is a 5-year-old boy who fell down a narrow fissure on Cannock Chase that led to disused mine workings. His rescue lasted five hours and involved the Coal Mines Rescue Team.

  • S02E04 Episode 4

    • May 4, 1993
    • BBC One

    Featured tonight is a rescue in freezing mud flats on the banks of the River Medway in Kent; how a jogger saved a young boy from a 100-foot deep ravine in Co Durham; and a man who against all odds survived a broken back after an air crash in Shropshire.

  • S02E05 Episode 5

    • May 11, 1993
    • BBC One

    Tonight: a terrible lorry crash requiring a long and difficult rescue that many thought no one could possibly survive; and practical tips on what to do if you are first at the scene of an accident. Also a rescue bid by helicopter pilots battling against hurricane force winds and 40 foot waves to rescue 51 workers marooned on a sinking oil rig in the North Sea.

  • S02E06 Episode 6

    • May 18, 1993
    • BBC One

    Tonight: a rescue deep underwater. Exploring the waters where First World War battleships were scuttled at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, two experienced divers got into trouble when one of them became pinned to the seabed by a huge metal door. With no time to go for help, it was up to his friend to save him, struggling to free him as their air supply streamed away. Plus, a reconstruction of a house fire in Nottingham highlights the dangers of making hoax calls, and an off-duty fireman plucks three children from the grip of quicksand-like coal slurry in South Shields.

  • S02E07 Episode 7

    • May 25, 1993
    • BBC One

    Tonight: a home video of how a canoeist became trapped under tons of freezing white water, and how a series of extraordinary coincidences helped save the life of a man injured on a Lake District mountainside.

  • S02E08 Episode 8

    • June 1, 1993
    • BBC One

    Tonight: the story of a 9-year-old boy who spent five hours trapped in a tiny air bubble deep underground, a man whose life was saved by his briefcase after a bizarre train accident, and an extraordinary rescue in Bristol's city docks when a man in a wheelchair plunged into freezing water.

  • S02E09 Episode 9

    • June 8, 1993
    • BBC One

    Tonight: a bizarre mid-air collision; how a man spent hours trapped by a huge tree stump; and flying paramedics rescue a fallen climber.

  • SPECIAL 0x6 Series 1 Compilation (3)

    • June 29, 1993

    More highlights of last year's series, reconstructed with the emergency services, actors and the people involved in the original rescues. This week: how a Sunday-afternoon stroll turned into a desperate struggle against time and tide. Two potholers get into trouble while negotiating the "black hole" 500 feet beneath the Mendip Hills. Two men on a fishing trip are at the centre of a massive search and rescue operation in the Bristol Channel. And how a Somerset farmer fought his way back to health after a tractor accident left him with a broken back.

  • SPECIAL 0x7 Series 1 Compilation (4)

    • July 6, 1993

    More highlights of last year's series, reconstructed with the emergency services, actors and the people involved in the original rescues. This week: the 6-year-old boy who toppled into the gorilla pit at Jersey Zoo who was saved by one of the keepers and a local ambulance man. A rescue 500 feet beneath the North Sea when a diver's face mask shattered and the bizarre accident that left a motorist impaled on a 40 foot scaffolding pole.

Season 3

  • S03E01 Episode 1

    • April 8, 1994
    • BBC One

    When a crane driver collapses 180 feet above the ground, the ambulanceman attempting to rescue him must grapple not just with the obvious dangers of the situation but with his own fear of heights. In the Isles of Scilly, the dramatic rescue of a lone yachtsman is captured on video, and in Manchester a 3-year-old boy and his dog Max go missing.

  • S03E02 Episode 2

    • April 15, 1994
    • BBC One

    This week, a bizarre accident leaves a 12-year-old girl fighting for her life underwater. Two British balloonists find themselves dangling helplessly over foreign terrain. And a Scottish fisherman is trapped under the wreckage of his boat.

  • S03E03 Episode 3

    • April 22, 1994
    • BBC One

    This week, a six-hour ordeal at sea when a woman is trapped under a capsized boat, and how a skier survived a night in freezing conditions in the Scottish mountains.

  • S03E04 Episode 4

    • April 29, 1994
    • BBC One

    Eight hundred miles off the west coast of Ireland a small aircraft was hit by lightning, leaving pilot Werner Soehlmann with no long-range radio, no navigational equipment and very little fuel.

  • S03E05 Episode 5

    • May 6, 1994
    • BBC One

    One of tonight's reconstructions shows what happened that day when the man went into anaphylactic shock after he was stung by bees more than 100 times. The other two featured stories reconstruct a freak canoeing accident on the River Dart which tested the ingenuity of students at the scene, and the mountain rescue of an elderly woman with a broken arm, by a highly-trained dog.

  • S03E06 Episode 6

    • May 13, 1994
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the helicopter pilot whose flying expertise was tested to the limit when he had to hover for more than 20 minutes dangerously close to a cliff face in order to rescue a climber with a broken neck. Also, the couple who nearly died from something they couldn't see, hear, taste or smell, and the dual race to free a man trapped by a leaking chemical container and stop the toxic liquid inside polluting the environment.

  • S03E07 Episode 7

    • May 20, 1994
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a diving accident leaves a young woman at risk from the bends, and forces a helicopter to fly under the Tamar Bridge to get her to safety; the teenage boy speared by a javelin in a freak accident on a school sports field; and the cyclist who needed 718 pints of blood after he was run over by a lorry.

  • S03E08 Episode 8

    • May 27, 1994
    • BBC One

    One of the reconstructions introduced by Michael Buerk in tonight's programme uses the actual recording of the lifesaving call the little boy made when his mother went into a coma. Also featured is the original video made by the London Fire Brigade as they raced to free the driver of a 17-tonne juggernaut balanced on the edge of a bridge.

  • SPECIAL 0x8 Young Lifesavers

    • May 30, 1994
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk and Juliet Morris celebrate the heroism of young lifesavers in this family special, including a brother who saved his sister's life after a cycling accident and the rescue of a trapped cat.

  • S03E09 Episode 9

    • June 3, 1994
    • BBC One

    Tonight, an improperly secured anchor leads to a massive search for two divers lost at sea off the Cornish coast. A woman makes a 999 call on her mobile phone while hanging upside down in her crashed car. And the complex rescue of two men badly injured by a lorry as they worked to replace old gas mains in a hole in the road.

  • S03E10 Episode 10

    • June 10, 1994
    • BBC One

    Tonight, how a stroll in the Yorkshire countryside left a 65-year-old woman struggling to stay alive after she was bitten by adders, the only poisonous snake in the UK - followed by medical advice on dealing with snakebites. There's also the rescue of two rally enthusiasts whose car veered off a forest track and plunged down a 1,000ft ravine in South Wales.

  • SPECIAL 0x9 No Excuses

    • December 6, 1994

    A special Christmas edition looking at lives which have been affected by drinking and driving. As well as reconstructing often tragic incidents which could have been avoided, the team goes on the road with police officers as they deal with the the first festive drunks of the season.

Season 4

  • SPECIAL 0x10 Series 2 Compilation (1)

    • January 6, 1995
    • BBC One

    Reviewing some of the real-life stories of heroism and bravery from the second series of 999. Tonight, a car carrying a father and son careers off a road and into a river; a man is stranded 100 foot up on a radio mast; and helicopter pilots brave hurricane-force winds and 40 foot waves to reach 51 workers marooned on a sinking North Sea oil rig.

  • SPECIAL 0x11 Series 2 Compilation (2)

    • January 13, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a man who survived an aeroplane crash in Shropshire; a 5-year-old girl trapped in a crushed car; and how a man faced a four-hour ordeal trapped underground in a 22-inch sewer pipe.

  • S04E01 Episode 1

    • April 7, 1995
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk returns to introduce more real-life rescue stories. Including the struggle to free two men trapped in their sinking powerboat after a crash at Guernsey's World Championships, the rescue of a paratrooper dangling from a Hercules which is captured on camcorder from inside the aircraft, and in Northern Ireland an unusual and baffling agricultural accident which leaves a man fighting for his life.

  • S04E02 Episode 2

    • April 14, 1995
    • BBC One

    Including the dilemma of a couple trapped inside their burning car in the tiger enclosure of a safari park; pictures of the rescue of three canoeists stranded in the middle of the River Conwy in North Wales; the flying accident which left two brothers each convinced that the other was dead and the doctor who was forced to improvise when a baby collapsed in Sardinia. Plus, Juliet Morris continues her report on the real life Baywatch team in Perranporth, Cornwall.

  • S04E03 Episode 3

    • April 21, 1995
    • BBC One

    Including the nightmare accident a man had feared for 25 years and his wife's fight to save him from drowning; the complex rescue of a pilot surrounded by aviation fuel after a crash landing on a motorway; and a hop-picker trapped under a tractor in a flooded river.

  • SPECIAL 0x1 The Point of No Return

    • April 28, 1995
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk tells the story of how five soldiers became trapped in a remote part of the Malaysian jungle when an expedition went badly wrong. A major rescue operation by the British and Malaysian Armed Forces was put into action and the plight of the missing men captured the world's imagination.

  • S04E04 Episode 4

    • May 5, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the man who came back from the dead after open heart surgery in the street; the 999 call made by a man trapped in mud with the tide rising around him; and the first aider who risked his own life to help a colleague buried alive in a hopper of acidic dust. Also, Juliet Morris meets Doreen Lawrence of "999"'s real-life "Baywatch" in Perranporth, Cornwall, and there are details of free life-saving courses in Northern Ireland.

  • S04E05 Episode 5

    • May 12, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a Christmas walk in the Lake District that became a fight for survival fora man who plunged 700 feet down an icy fell; the actual 999 call made by a woman trapped in her flat by dense, choking smoke; also the all-night ordeal of two teenage surfers lost at sea and the race to find them.

  • S04E06 Episode 6

    • May 19, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a diver who was forced to spend 39 hours in a decompression chamber after surfacing too quickly, and a man who was trapped for three hours under an articulated lorry.

  • S04E07 Episode 7

    • May 26, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a walker who was swept downstream to a waterfall; a man trapped in a blazing car; and two women and their horses marooned a mile out to sea on a deserted fortress.

  • S04E08 Episode 8

    • June 2, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a two-day-old baby who was flung from her incubator when an ambulance crashed, and the paramedic whose life was ruined as a result of the post traumatic stress it triggered; a lifeboat team who try to rescue a couple cut off by storms; and an underground inspection that leaves a tin miner fighting for his life.

  • S04E09 Episode 9

    • June 9, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a family whose canal boat went up in smoke; a father forced to deliver his own daughter in an emergency birth; and an ambulanceman confronting his own fear of heights to abseil 60 feet to help a seriously injured caver.

  • S04E10 Episode 10

    • June 16, 1995
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a policeman impaled on railings which threatened to delay Trooping the Colour for the first time in its history; a fisherman who received a 33,000-volt electric shock and survived; a paragliding accident in which an enthusiast tumbled 200 feet down a sheer chalk cliff; and Juliet Morris concludes 999's real life Baywatch in Perranporth, Comwall.

  • SPECIAL 0x12 Series 3 Compilation (1)

    • June 23, 1995

    Another chance to see some of the reconstructions of real-life rescue stories from last year's series. Tonight, a 12-year-old girl fights for her life after an accident at a holiday centre; two men badly injured aftera lorry ran over them as they were replacing old gas mains in a hole in the road; a helicopter pilot who rescued a climber with a broken neck; and a man stung more than 100 times by a swarm of bees.

  • SPECIAL 0x13 Series 3 Compilation (2)

    • June 30, 1995

    More reconstructions of real-life rescue stories from last year's series, including the three-year-old boy who dialled when his diabetic mother went into a coma.

  • SPECIAL 0x14 Series 3 Compilation (3)

    • July 7, 1995

    Another chance to see some of the reconstructions of real-life rescue stories from last year's series. Tonight: the race to free a lorry driver from his crashed cab; how a skier survived a night in freezing conditions by building snow hole, and practical tips on how to stay alive if your car gets stuck in snow; and another chance to watch the dramatic video of the rescue of a solo yachtsman in the Isles of Scilly.

  • SPECIAL 0x15 Series 3 Compilation (4)

    • July 14, 1995

    Another chance to see some of the reconstructions of real-life rescue stories from last year's series. Including an ambulanceman with a fear of heights who helped a crane driver who collapsed 180 feet above London.

Season 5

  • SPECIAL 0x16 Operation Coathanger

    • January 12, 1996
    • BBC One

    The first of three dramatic reconstructions is of the remarkable story of how a surgeon performed emergency surgery to save a woman's life during a flight from Hong Kong to London. He succeeded without the aid of surgical instruments and while his patient was still conscious.

  • SPECIAL 0x17 Sea of Fire

    • January 19, 1996
    • BBC One

    A dramatic reconstruction of a Greek tanker ship on fire and drifting out of control towards the oil fields of the North Sea. RAF helicopter winchman Mel Ward is the crew's only hope for survival, but halfway through the rescue his helicopter suffers critical damage and his colleagues are forced to abandon him on the blazing tanker to save themselves. Featuring news pictures from the time of the rescue.

  • SPECIAL 0x18 The Lonely Walk

    • January 26, 1996
    • BBC One

    A dramatic reconstruction of a terrifying mission to defuse an enormous wartime bomb, found by an army disposal team under millions of gallons of filthy water, beneath one of London's biggest gas works.

  • SPECIAL 0x19 International Rescue (1)

    • February 20, 1996
    • BBC One

    The first of two 999 specials which combines real-life video footage with dramatic reconstruction. The first rescue, from New Zealand, shows a petrol tanker crashing into a car and trapping a young girl beneath a terrifying inferno. In the second, from the Falkland Islands, the crew of a fishing boat face a sea of fire, and in the third, from Las Vegas, a fire crew discover a jeep in flood water with a lifeless body trapped inside.

  • SPECIAL 0x20 International Rescue (2)

    • February 27, 1996
    • BBC One

    The second of two 999 specials which combines real-life video footage with dramatic reconstruction. How a helicopter pilot in Minneapolis risked his life to rescue two people from a raging weir; the first assignment for Melbourne's High Angle Rescue Team; and how a British aid team acted as good Samaritans in the mountains of China.

  • SPECIAL 0x21 Series 4 Compilation (1)

    • March 29, 1996
    • BBC One

    Another chance to see some of the most exciting rescue stories previously featured in 999, including the couple trapped inside their burning car in the tiger enclosure of a safari park and the ambulanceman with a fear of heights who had to abseil 60 feet down to help an injured caver.

  • S05E01 Episode 1

    • April 12, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight's stories include the capsizing accident that left a young sailor trapped underwater; and the two cavers entombed by a rockfall who used smoke signals to help their rescuers find them.

  • S05E02 Episode 2

    • April 19, 1996
    • BBC One

    This week's stories include the fire-fighters who were thrown through the air like rag dolls when a barn exploded in a freak flash fire.

  • S05E03 Episode 3

    • April 26, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight's reconstructions of real-life rescues include a man who was overcome by fumes in an underground petrol tank, and a little boy plunges through a hole whilst sledging, into a freezing, fast-running stream.

  • SPECIAL 0x3 Speed Kills

    • May 3, 1996
    • BBC One

    A special edition which highlights the appalling consequences of speeding. gives the hard facts about speeding and reconstructs three moving stories of those people whose lives have been changed forever.

  • S05E04 Episode 4

    • May 10, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the catalogue of errors that led to disaster on a sandbank 12 miles off the Essex coast; the husband and wife who exhibited completely different symptoms of poisoning at the same time; and the woman who came to the rescue of footballer Steve Nicol after he fell through the ice of a frozen lake trying to rescue his dog.

  • S05E05 Episode 5

    • May 17, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the mystery of the diver who went missing at midnight in a Scottish loch, only to be found miles away on dry land; the car crash which left a man bleeding badly and unable to tell his rescuers about the hidden medical conditions which could kill him; and the chimney pot which crashed through a Brighton roof during a storm, trapping a man on his bed beneath.

  • S05E06 Episode 6

    • May 24, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the school diving trip to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands that almost ended in disaster; the airship on a test flight which crashed into the top of a tree and ended up resting on branches not strong enough to bear its weight; and the inspired use of a fork-lift truck to release a cyclist pinned under a 38-tonne lorry.

  • S05E07 Episode 7

    • May 31, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the British nurse airlifted out of Sierra Leone after contracting a highly contagious killer virus; and the pilot who swooped from the skies to throw a life raft to a drowning man. Plus, advice on staying healthy abroad.

  • S05E08 Episode 8

    • June 7, 1996
    • BBC One

    More reconstructions of dramatic real-life rescues, including the skills of a lifeboat crew being tested to the limits, the story of a soldier who, with a wooden stake lodged in his chest after a car crash, scrambled 30 feet up a motorway embankment to try to get help, and how the number 1471 saved the life of a shop assistant.

  • S05E09 Episode 9

    • June 14, 1996
    • BBC One

    Tonight: how rescuers risked their lives on the sands off Southend to save a trapped teenager before the tide engulfed him; the detective work required to locate a lorry driver who has a mobile phone but can't use it to make anyone aware of his plight; and the chain of people who refused to allow a man to die after a crash broke bones in every limb of his body, injuries that later required 10 metal plates, 32 pins, 50 screws and six grams of gold.

  • SPECIAL 0x22 Series 4 Compilation (2)

    • June 21, 1996

    Another chance to see some dramatic reconstructions of real-life rescues. Tonight's compilation includes the policeman who was impaled on railings, threatening to delay the Trooping the Colour ceremony for the first time in its history; the terrifying underwater emergency that left a diver fighting for her life in a recompression chamber; and the paragliding accident which saw an enthusiast tumbling feet down sheer chalk cliffs.

  • SPECIAL 0x23 Series 4 Compilation (3)

    • June 28, 1996

    Tonight's compilation includes the struggle to free two men trapped in their sinking powerboat after a spectacular crash off the coast of Guernsey; the first aider who risked his own life to help a colleague who was buried alive in an enclosed silo full of acidic dust at a power station; a man who was left fighting for his life after an unusual agricultural accident in Northern Ireland; and a couple's holiday in Pembrokeshire that turned to horror when the husband fell over a cliff.

  • SPECIAL 0x24 Series 4 Compilation (4)

    • July 5, 1996

    Tonight's compilation includes a bizarre flying accident which left two brothers each convinced that the other was dead; dramatic news pictures of the complex rescue of three canoeists stranded on a rock in the middle of the River Conwy in North Wales; a man who came back from the dead after open heart surgery in the street; and the family whose canal boat caught fire.

Season 6

  • SPECIAL 0x25 Missing in Action

    • May 6, 1997
    • BBC One

    This 999 special tells the true story of US fighter pilot Captain Scott O'Grady, who in 1995, was shot down on a peace-keeping mission over war-torn Bosnia, sparking one of the most daring military rescues ever attempted.

  • S06E01 Episode 1

    • May 8, 1997
    • BBC One

    The programme that reconstructs dramatic real-life rescues returns for a new six-part series. This week, the battle to save a boy trapped at the bottom of a swimming pool, the remarkable story of a Scottish fisherman who severed a leg in a freak accident at sea, and the gas explosion that left an elderly woman buried in an unstable block of flats.

  • S06E02 Episode 2

    • May 15, 1997
    • BBC One

    This week the fight for survival of two young climbers buried in a snowhole, the race to save a scaffolder who fell onto a concrete platform in the middle of the River Severn, and the freak accident that left a Scottish policeman trapped inside a blazing tent.

  • S06E03 Episode 3

    • May 22, 1997
    • BBC One

    This week's stories include the accident in which a 78-year-old man was impaled by a pool cue, and the amateur pilot whose plane plummeted nose-first out of the sky.

  • S06E04 Episode 4

    • May 29, 1997
    • BBC One

    This week's stories include the race to find a new heart for a critically ill one-year-old boy; a woman forced to take extreme measures when she started choking and was unable to breathe; and amateur pilots lost in cloud and unable to land.

  • S06E05 Episode 5

    • June 5, 1997
    • BBC One

    This week's stories include the fight to save a teenager impaled through the chest on a rusty bolt; an 81-year-old woman stranded in a car teetering over the edge of a 120-footdrop; and a helicopter forced to land on a narrow sea wall to rescue an injured boy.

  • S06E06 Episode 6

    • June 12, 1997
    • BBC One

    This week's stories include the terrifying experience of a man stuck in quicksand, the ordeal of two teenagers who see their parents trapped on the motorway in their crashed car, and a double helicopter rescue of a young woman who plunged 180 feet down a cliff face.

  • SPECIAL 0x27 The Great Storm

    • October 14, 1997

    To mark the tenth anniversary of the worst storms to hit Britain in years, Michael Buerk presents reconstructions from the night when the south and east of England was ravaged by hurricane-force winds.

Season 7

  • SPECIAL 0x26 Escape from Paradise

    • March 17, 1998
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk presents the dramatic true story of a three-man Hollywood film crew who found themselves fighting for their lives in the crater of an active Hawaiian volcano. The group were over the Pu'u O'o-Kilauea volcano, filming an aerial sequence for the thriller Sliver, when their helicopter developed engine trouble, forcing the pilot to crash-land on the floor of the crater just inches away from a pool of molten lava. For the first time, National Park Rangers had the task of rescuing people trapped inside a live volcano, not knowing if they were alive or dead.

  • SPECIAL 0x28 Heart Special

    • March 27, 1998
    • BBC One

    A 999 special on heart disease presented by Michael Buerk and Donna Bernard. Featuring three reconstructions of dramatic real-life rescues, plus advice on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of a heart attack.

  • S07E01 Episode 1

    • April 7, 1998
    • BBC One

    First of a new ten-part series recreating dramatic real-life rescues, presented by Michael Buerk and Donna Bernard. Including one man's bravery in helping firefighters to bring a blaze at a gasworks under control, and the first of ten films looking at firefighter training.

  • S07E02 Episode 2

    • April 14, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, how a man was saved after being buried under tons of concrete. Plus advice on how to save a baby drowning in the bath and another look behind the scenes of firefighter training.

  • S07E03 Episode 3

    • April 24, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, how a young man helped a friend trapped underwater by giving him continual mouth to mouth, and a 77-year-old man who found the strength to lift a car off a neighbour.

  • S07E04 Episode 4

    • April 28, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the tale of a lone yachtsman who braved an Antarctic storm to rescue a fellow sailor, and the story of a young bomb-disposal officer who endured a 36-hour test of nerves defusing an unexploded wartime device.

  • S07E05 Episode 5

    • May 5, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, the race to save a British naturalist stung by a deadly scorpion, an occupied Morris Minor crushed by a lorry, and a man who fell on a live railway track during an epileptic seizure.

  • S07E06 Episode 6

    • May 12, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a novice canoeist swept into a very dangerous river gorge, a baby choking on a wood screw, and a bridegroom whose leg is saved by a medical breakthrough developed behind the old Iron Curtain.

  • S07E07 Episode 7

    • May 19, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a family that were stranded by the tide, and a man who was nearly strangled by the toggles of his coat that were caught in an escalator.

  • S07E08 Episode 8

    • May 26, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, how a mother and her ten-year-old daughter rescued horses after their riding stables caught fire on Guy Fawkes' night, and how a quick-thinking nightclub bouncer used a pipe from a beer pump to save the life of a man whose neck had been slashed.

  • S07E09 Episode 9

    • June 2, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a diver who was rescued after plunging 200 feet to the sea bed, and a 77-year-old man who found the strength to lift a car and save a neighbour's life.

  • S07E10 Episode 10

    • June 16, 1998
    • BBC One

    Tonight, a paraglider pilot in the Italian alps who lost control and plunged 5,000 feet, and footage of the rescue of a teenager trapped under a lorry in icy water.

  • SPECIAL 0x29 Diana's Legacy

    • August 21, 1998

    The campaign work by Diana, Princess of Wales highlighted the human cost of landmines, and has led to the British Government announcing a ban on the use of landmines by UK armed forces. Tonight reconstructs the rescue of an American aid worker following an explosion in Africa, and tells the story of a 14-year-old boy who survived stepping on two landmines.

  • SPECIAL 0x30 Series 6 Compilation (1)

    • August 28, 1998

    A compilation of some of the best stories from the last run of the series. Three men swim for their lives through shark infested waters after their boat breaks up ten miles off Belize; the freak accident that leaves a 78-year-old man speared through the head by a snooker cue; the Scottish policeman trapped inside a blazing tent and the safety drill that becomes a real life rescue when a scaffolderfalls from a bridge in the middle of the River Severn.

  • SPECIAL 0x31 Series 6 Compilation (2)

    • September 2, 1998

    A compilation of some of the best stories from the last run of the series which features reconstructions of dramatic rescues, remarkable tales of heroism and the selfless bravery of the emergency services.

  • SPECIAL 0x32 Storm Alert

    • November 25, 1998

    October saw the highest rainfall for more than ten years in England and Wales. For this 999 special, cameras were on hand to record the effects of the deluge on ordinary people and the emergency services.

  • SPECIAL 0x33 Series 6 Compilation (3)

    • December 9, 1998

    A compilation of some of the best stories from the series that features reconstructions of dramatic rescues, remarkable tales of heroism and the selfless bravery shown by the emergency services.

Season 8

  • SPECIAL 0x34 The New Year Storms

    • January 5, 1999
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk presents the dramatic stories behind the violent storms that welcomed in the New Year of 1998. A Devon couple are hit by a ten-ton tree as it falls on to their moving car, and a rescue helicopter battles into 60mph headwinds to save an Irish fishing trawler.

  • SPECIAL 0x35 The Easter Floods

    • April 5, 1999
    • BBC One

    Five people died and an estimated £400-million-worth of damage was caused when some of the worst floods in living memory hit Britain last Easter. This special uses video footage from eye-witnesses and the emergency services to relive three terrifying days when torrential rains battered the heart of England. Reconstructions include the story of a mother and her toddler sons who had to be plucked to safety from a roof.

  • S08E01 Episode 1

    • April 27, 1999
    • BBC One

    Tonight's programme includes the story of two brave lorry drivers who attempted to rescue a young woman trapped in a burning car and that of a courageous farmer who cut off his own hand with a pen-knife to avoid being crushed to death in baling machinery.

  • S08E02 Episode 2

    • May 4, 1999
    • BBC One

    Tonight's programme includes stunt performer Marc Cass attempting to stand up in hurricane force winds. Plus the incredible story of how Martin Mudie survived being submerged in freezing water for 15 minutes.

  • S08E03 Episode 3

    • May 11, 1999
    • BBC One

    Tonight's programme includes the stories of a musician on board a cruise ship who helped save the lives of 300 people, and an 11-year-old boy who was trapped at the bottom of a swimming pool. Plus how a Royal Air Force pilot earned a bravery award for his part in an air-sea rescue off the Isles of Scilly.

  • S08E04 Episode 4

    • May 25, 1999
    • BBC One

    Tonight, on the programme that reconstructs dramatic rescues, how the life of a 14-year-old boy was saved by a quick-thinking 999 operator, and the amazing story of a lorry driver who became impaled on a metal spike at a Kent building site. Plus a demonstration of the dangers of chip-pan fires.

  • S08E05 Episode 5

    • June 1, 1999
    • BBC One

    Tonight, on the programme that reconstructs dramatic rescues, how a woman survived falling 800ft down a Scottish mountain, and the story of a 13-year-old boy whose head was impaled on a bicycle fork. Plus stuntman Marc Cass finds out what it's like to get caught in a flash flood.

  • S08E06 Episode 6

    • June 8, 1999
    • BBC One

    Tonight, how firemen risked their lives to save five children who became trapped in a smoke-filled cave in Nottingham. Plus stuntman Marc Cass helps demonstrate how to escape from a house fire when visibility is impaired by smoke.

  • S08E07 Episode 7

    • June 22, 1999
    • BBC One

    A look at how 17 people survived the largest recorded multiple lightning strikes in the UK, plus stuntman Marc Cass demonstrates the power of lightning when his car is hit by 800,000 volts. The programme also follows new junior doctors as they join Bristol Royal Infirmary's accident-and-emergency department.

  • S08E08 Episode 8

    • June 29, 1999
    • BBC One

    From Cornwall, the story of a boy and his father who were swept into a sea cave by huge waves; the lifeboat crew that went to rescue them became trapped as well. Plus footage of a typhoon that devastated South Korea.

  • S08E09 Episode 9

    • July 6, 1999
    • BBC One

    More reconstructions of dramatic rescues, including how an amazing set of coincidences saved the life of a motorcyclist, and the story of a woman who fell through a window she was trying to open and impaled herself on a railing. Plus another visit to Bristol Royal Infirmary's accident-and-emergency department.

  • SPECIAL 0x2 Fire Rescues

    • August 17, 1999
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk presents a special programme showing the bravery and dedication of firefighters who risk their lives rescuing people from life-threatening situations. Including footage of fire rescues from around the world.

  • S08E10 Episode 10

    • November 17, 1999
    • BBC One

    Including the amazing story of two people who survived for four months stranded on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean, plus stuntman Marc Cass re-creates a panic-stricken evacuation of a packed passenger jet.

  • SPECIAL 0x36 Animal Rescue

    • September 2, 1999

    Michael Buerk presents a special, featuring real-life footage of dramatic animal rescues from around the world. Stories include a young elephant's fight to free itself from a deep water hole in Kenya, one man's battle to save a drowning chimpanzee, and the rescue operation to save two horses from sinking in a sea of mud.

Season 9

  • S09E01 Episode 1

    • April 5, 2000
    • BBC One

    Tonight's stories include how doctors saved the life of a knife attack victim by performing open heart surgery on the floor of a pub, and a workman's daring escape from a smoke-filled lift. Plus stuntman Marc Cass is in Norway to demonstrate the dangers of walking on thin ice.

  • S09E02 Episode 2

    • May 3, 2000
    • BBC One

    Heather Coles-Bayes who was impaled in the throat after slipping onto railings near her home in Leeds. Stuntman Marc Cass provides a graphic demonstration of the dangers of pouring petrol onto a barbecue. Plus a lorry driver's escape from the icy depths of a fjord in Norway.

  • S09E03 Episode 3

    • May 10, 2000
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk presents more reconstructions of real-life rescues, including how a lone climber was saved after he became stranded with horrific injuries on the Isle of Skye's Cuillin Hills. Stuntman Marc Cass re-creates the experience of being stuck on a mountain with the symptoms of hypothermia. And the story of a canoeist who was rescued after becoming trapped under a weir.

  • S09E04 Episode 4

    • September 13, 2000
    • BBC One

    A blazing trawler traps five men in the Orkneys, and a man is impaled on metal rods in a building site accident. Michael Buerk presents these and more true-life stories of bravery and heroism. Plus, stuntman Marc Cass demonstrates the dangers of drinking and driving.

  • S09E05 Episode 5

    • September 27, 2000
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk introduces more true-life rescue tales, including that of a group of workers trapped beneath a huge steel door in a sewer on Liverpool's docks. Meanwhile, Marc Cass gets to grips with his fear of insects and a five-year-old tells the story of how she saved her dad's life when he lapsed into a diabetic coma.

Season 10

  • S10E01 Episode 1

    • May 29, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk begins a new series of the show featuring true stories of heroism, with a video of a daring helicopter rescue far out to sea. Plus a feature in which new co-presenter Dr Catherine Hood tests people on their first-aid knowledge.

  • S10E02 Episode 2

    • June 5, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk brings more heroic deeds to light, with a report on a doctor with vertigo who had to treat a patient on a 180ft high theme park ride. Plus Dr Catherine Hood tests people on their first-aid knowledge.

  • S10E03 Episode 3

    • June 19, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk reports on a driver's miraculous escape from her crushed car and a mystery celebrity's experience of first aid when an MP dropped dead in the street. Plus Dr Catherine Hood tests people on theirfirst-aid knowledge.

  • S10E04 Episode 4

    • June 26, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk reports on the spectacular rescue of a lone sailor who clung to his vessel for three hours in colossal waves during a storm. There's also footage of a parachutist hitting a football stand at 70mph. Plus Dr Catherine Hood tests a Shrewsbury audience on their first-aid knowledge.

  • S10E05 Episode 5

    • July 3, 2001
    • BBC One

    More gripping stories of escape from danger, including a man and his son who were rescued by helicopter after spending three days in arctic conditions in the Cairngorms. Plus a man who survived an attack by a swarm of wasps that gave him over 400 stings, and a mother left dangling from a ferris wheel.

  • S10E06 Episode 6

    • July 10, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk reports on a lorry driver trapped in an infemo on the Ml, an ill-fated rescue operation on the River Mowhawk, New York, and a shooting incident which leaves a man fighting for his life. Dr Catherine Hood tests another audience on their first-aid knowledge.

  • S10E07 Episode 7

    • July 18, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk reports on the shipwrecked yashtsman who was stranded on a desert island and the lifeguard who paid a high price to rescue a child. Plus, there's real-life footage of rescues from last year's floods in Mozambique, and Dr Catharine Hood asks another audience how they would react in an emergency.

  • S10E08 Episode 8

    • July 25, 2001
    • BBC One

    This week, Michael Buerk reports on the bid to stop a seaman bleeding to death after a rope had cut through both his legs, and on the two boys swept out to sea in a canoe. Plus a look at saving lives using infrared technology.

  • S10E09 Episode 9

    • August 1, 2001
    • BBC One

    This week, the massive rescue operation to save seven potholers trapped in a flooding cave. Plus the rider trapped under his horse. And Dr Catharine Hood questions more people about how they would react in an emergency

  • S10E10 Episode 10

    • August 8, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk introduces more escapes, including the passenger in a van who suffered horrific facial injuries when a lorry's fuel tank exploded and a British climber who fell half a mile down a mountain in Alaska.

  • S10E11 Episode 11

    • August 13, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk introduces more escapes, including an off-duty policeman who had a brush with death in his garden and the cab driver who pulled a man from a burning car.

  • S10E12 Episode 12

    • August 20, 2001
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk introduces more escapes, including a young woman who survived a 120 metre fall and a man whose dog helped him survive when he was run over by a tractor.

  • S10E13 Episode 13

    • September 3, 2001
    • BBC One

    Tonight, on the programme that reconstructs dramatic rescues, an abseiling trip goes wrong leaving a frightened girl to escape from a maze of caves.

  • S10E14 Episode 14

    • September 10, 2001
    • BBC One

    In the last of the series, the story of a stunt woman who was trapped underwater after a power-boat accident, the taxi-driver who prevented a runaway car causing a motorway pile-up, plus a look back at highlights of the past ten series.

Season 11

  • S11E01 Episode 1

    • October 28, 2002
    • BBC One

    The series about real-life rescues returns for a seven-part series with the tale of four friends who survived a plane crash in Scotland only to face a ferocious blizzard.

  • S11E02 Episode 2

    • November 18, 2002
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk looks back on emergency cases, including an 80mph bobsleigh accident and an impaled cyclist.

  • S11E03 Episode 3

    • November 25, 2002
    • BBC One

    Tonight's dramatic rescues feature the man who needed all his courage to enter a burning house and the schoolboy trapped under a torrent of water.

  • S11E04 Episode 4

    • December 2, 2002
    • BBC One

    Tonight's dramatic rescues feature the mother and baby trapped under the mangled wreckage of their car. Plus how the tide turned on a rescue operation.

  • S11E05 Episode 5

    • December 9, 2002
    • BBC One

    Dramatic rescues include a woman unconscious in a river following a horrific motorcycling accident and a yachting event that became a race for life.

  • S11E06 Episode 6

    • December 16, 2002
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk unveils the conclusion of last week's yachting nightmare, plus bravery from a cool-headed school-boy and a lorry driver's heroics after a motorway crash.

  • S11E07 Episode 7

    • January 27, 2003
    • BBC One

    A pilot's heroic efforts to land a stricken passenger plane.

Season 12

  • S12E01 Episode 1

    • April 15, 2003
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk looks back on more emergency cases with the help of dramatic reconstructions and interviews.

  • S12E02 Episode 2

    • May 14, 2003
    • BBC One

    Dramatic stories of rescues and bravery, including a man impaled on a garden railing spike.

  • S12E03 Episode 3

    • May 21, 2003
    • BBC One

    Michael Buerk presents more dramatic stories of real-life bravery in emergency situations, with reconstructions of rescues and practical safety tips.

  • S12E04 Episode 4

    • September 17, 2003
    • BBC One

    More dramatic reconstructions portraying true-life stories of bravery and heroism.