The team visit the limestone headland of the Great Orme in Llandudno, north Wales.
Neil Oliver travels the coast of the island of Arran
Series exploring Britain's coastline. Neil Oliver visits Britain's largest container port.
Nicholas Crane visits Bamburgh in Northumberland, whose castle sits on a basalt crag.
Nicholas Crane and a team of experts explore Britain's coastline and the relationship between people and the sea. They visit the Blackwater Estuary in Essex.
Neil Oliver discovers why a delegation from the US Navy is sent over to the port of Whitehaven every year to honour the Scot John Paul Jones.
Mark Horton travels on Brunel's Great Western Railway along the stunning south coast of Devon. The line engineered by Brunel opened in 1847 and was deemed a danger at the time, since it was built so close to the sea. It is now considered one of Britain's most amazing railway journeys.
The Coast experts journey along the stunning south coast of England from Bournemouth to Plymouth. Neil Oliver explores why Sandbanks in Poole Harbour is one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a house. Neil also discovers where beach donkeys go to retire, and the extraordinary story of building Britain's most famous lighthouse on the perilous Eddystone rocks.
Neil Oliver visits Chapel Bay Fort in Milford Haven. The ex-military fort is owned by George Geear, who has spent more than ten years restoring it.
Series exploring Britain's coastline and the relationship between citizens and the sea. The team travel the Welsh coast from Snowdonia to the Menai Straits. Nicholas Crane canoes the treacherous Menai Straits to examine the bridges across to Anglesey, and visits Portmeiron, the setting for classic TV series The Prisoner.
Neil Oliver is in the Channel Islands and kayaks over to Les Echrehous before heading to Sark. Sue Daly, underwater photographer, talks about diving in the Channel Islands. Nicholas Crane discovers the forgotten story of The Indestructible Highway, the convoys of coastal supply ships that braved Nazi attack from land, sea and air, to keep Britain afloat during the Second World War.
Mark Horton discovers how William the Conqueror taught the English how to construct castles and why William looked to Normandy for the Tower of London's stone.
Victorian postcards reveal Rhyl's glory years to Hermione Cockburn, and on a visit to Blackpool's Pleasure Beach she discovers the secrets of success for our seaside towns. Plus Neil Oliver finds out about the people who manned Liverpool's famous dockyards. Series 4 Reversions Episode 5 of 23
Miranda Krestovnikoff goes in search of the beautiful and rare white-fronted geese, which every year make an epic migration from Greenland to Ireland to feed on the rich grasses of the Wexford 'Slobs'. Dick Strawbridge takes a ride on 'Brunel's Folly', the dramatic and dangerous coastal railway that the great engineer constructed to cling to the cliff face at Bray Head. Dick learns of the disasters the railway has faced since it opened in 1855. Hermione Cockburn creates an earthquake on Killiney beach to discover how 160 years ago a local man, Robert Mallet, invented seismology, the study of earth tremors that has helped to save countless lives.
The Coast team reveals how shared seas unite us all as we take a circular tour of the Irish Sea. Neil Oliver explores the Isle of Man, home of the Laxey Wheel, the largest working waterwheel in the world. On the edge of the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay, Alice Roberts gets trapped in quicksand to discover what makes it so sticky and so deadly. She learns survival tips and sees how the emergency services use specialised gear to rescue strugglers stuck in the sand. In Liverpool, Mark Horton unearths the 150-year-old remains of the ship that broke Brunel's heart. The ill-fated Great Eastern was the famous engineer's final masterpiece and the largest passenger liner ever built until Titanic took her record. Ulsterman Dick Strawbridge uncovers the story of inventor Harry Ferguson, the first man to fly in Ireland, who went on to revolutionise farming worldwide with his groundbreaking tractor, the Little Fergie.
Britain's bonds with its Celtic cousins across in Brittany are explored. Neil Oliver visits the province of Finistere, battered by some of the world's wildest waters.
Nick Crane discovers why the world's biggest cargo ships are on course for London as he joins the struggle to construct a new mega-port as a gateway to the capital. Nick's epic new voyage then takes a strange turn as he crosses the channel to Belgium where he rides one of the longest tramways in the world, the Kusttram, which runs the entire length of Belgium's coastline. Nick also hunts down a forgotten masterpiece of Surrealist artist Rene Magritte. Alice Roberts uncovers the surprising story behind the rise and fall of the seaside landlady, formidable female pioneers who began businesses long before women had the vote. In Margate, Alice learns the secrets of being a successful landlady. In the fabulously preserved medieval city of Bruges, Mark Horton unearths why our ancestors came there 700 years ago to rediscover the forgotten art of making bricks, skills that were lost to Britain for centuries after the Romans left these shores.
In the Breton province of Finistere - 'The End of the Earth' - Neil Oliver meets a lighthouse keeper made famous by one of the world's most reproduced photographs. The image shows him about to be swallowed up by mountainous seas, so how did he manage to survive?
Mark Horton unearths what remains of the mysterious and violent people who once ruled much of Scotland - the Picts. Their coastal stronghold at Burghead was largely flattened to build a herring port, but the Picts left their mark in stone and bones. At the fishing port of Stonehaven, we join a fireball swinger for Hogmanay. The tiny coastal village at Catterline became an artistic obsession in the 1950s for Joan Eardley, one of Britain's best modern painters. Alice Roberts explores what drew Joan to Catterline and how her life was cut tragically short on the verge of great success.
Neil Oliver travels up the coast of west Wales, immersing himself in Pembrokeshire's quarrying past. Nick Crane joins a team as they train for one of the world's toughest sporting challenges, the Three Peaks Yacht Race. Contestants sail between Mount Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis, scaling each peak in turn.
On Scotland's west coast, Neil Oliver joins the crew of the last surviving coal-fired, steam-powered Clyde puffer. The puffers were tough little working boats carrying cargo out from Glasgow. In the 19th century they brought the industrial revolution to the Western Isles of Scotland. Neil discovers how the Clyde puffer crews became local heroes immortalised in the much-loved fictional tales of skipper Para Handy and his boat the Vital Spark. Out in the Western Isles, Hermione Cockburn visits the 'islands that roofed the world'. So much slate was taken away that the islands around Easdale have been turned into a paradise of deep, clear pools by the great flood that finally stopped the mining. No wonder it's now home to the world stone-skimming championship. Series 5 Reversions Episode 22 of 31
Coast explores the glorious diversity and endless delights offered by our beaches. The British Isles's stunning range of sand, shingle and rock formations creates some wonderful, unique havens for wildlife and opens up surprising possibilities for human endeavour and outright pleasure as well as secrets from Britain's prehistoric past. Now the Coast team can reveal these in The Secret Life of Beaches. Nick Crane digs deep to discover what it is like to live on Britain's most unusual beach, the eerily beautiful vast shingle spit at Dungeness in Kent. Nick discovers how this pebble heaven was formed and why it is still growing. A staggering five trillion pebbles offer a stony home to thriving communities of animals and people, who relish the freedom to express themselves in the wide, open, wild spaces. On the glorious shores of Jersey, Hermione Cockburn discovers the secret of making spectacular statements in sand as she joins the world's best beach artists creating massive art installations along some of the UK's most spectacular shoreline. How can anyone begin to take in these stunning artistic creations, stretched not on canvas but across entire beaches? There's nothing for it but for Hermione to take to the air in a helicopter. The Bible warns of the folly of trying to build a house on shifting sands, but Tessa Dunlop learns the extraordinary engineering secrets behind building one of Europe's biggest steelworks on a vast beach at Port Talbot in south Wales. As with the cathedrals of old, constructing this huge steelworks has been the work of generations. Since work began, in 1947, it has been continually modified and extended - but why build this steel behemoth on a beach in the first place? And what stops it sinking? Series 7 Reversions Episode 10 of 10
Alice Roberts discovers how over 8,000 Danish Jews managed to escape the Nazi concentration camps in a flotilla of fishing boats. Reversions 5: Episode 14
Coast ventures out to new territory, the astonishing man-made shoreline of the Netherlands. Nick Crane explores how ingenious Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences following the great North Sea flood in 1953, which killed thousands of people in the Netherlands and Britain. Nick also discovers how, during the Second World War, traitors from the British Indian Army took part in the Nazi occupation of the tiny isle of Texel. This remarkable remote outpost in the far north of the Netherlands was later the unlikely site for the last battle in Europe of the Second World War. Nick investigates how the island fortress of Texel was torn apart by a murderous fight to the death between Soviet and Nazi soldiers in April 1945. Mark Horton reveals the age-old skills that have made the Dutch the grand masters at creating new living space from the sea. Mark explores the greatest land grab scheme of all, an audacious 40-year plan to wall off the sea and drain away the water from an area bigger than Greater London. And Miranda Krestovnikoff experiences how the Dutch delight in devouring raw herring as a seaside snack.
Nick Crane leads a journey around the wildest shores of the British Isles to explore dramatic untold stories of peril from the seas. The Great Storm of 1703 was the most devastating weather event ever to hit southern Britain, when lethal winds whipped in from the Atlantic to claim the lives of one in five seamen of the Royal Navy. Thousands perished and the winds of the storm set more than 400 windmills ablaze, and blew ships from our shores to Norway. On the tiny Scottish island of Tiree, Dick Strawbridge reveals a remarkable story from the Second World War of how the timing of the D-Day landings was determined by the heroism of RAF weather forecasters, flying hazardous missions far out into the storms of the Atlantic. As their vital missions routinely took them head-on into storms that would have grounded all other flights, many aircraft crews were lost and their bodies never recovered. Dick meets one of these veteran flyers to discover how they managed to fly just feet above raging seas, with lightning striking the aircraft itself, in an attempt to find a break in the weather that would give the troops on the beaches of Normandy a fighting chance. Poet and storyteller Ian McMillan uncovers the forgotten story of another shipwreck, which held Britain transfixed at the outbreak of the First World War. For two days in 1914, more than 200 victims aboard the hospital ship Rohilla fought for their lives within sight of the Yorkshire fishing port of Whitby. Mary Roberts, one of those rescued, had survived the sinking of the Titanic two years earlier, but said her experience on the Rohilla was even worse. With historic lifeboats, relatives of the victims and 1914 newsreel footage, Ian McMillan relives the tragic events that changed our lifeboat services forever.
A look at the hidden history of harbours, which, before air travel, were Britain's gateways to global adventure. There are more than a thousand ports - big and small - around the UK coastline; all have fascinating secret stories, many of them revealed for the first time in this episode. Coast Series 7 Reversions Episode 8 of 10
Series featuring stories from different parts of the British Isles, taking viewers on a 'journey of the imagination' which explores the universal themes that bind everyone together. The first of the series investigates just what it means to be an island people. Series 7 Reversions Episode 4 of 10
Coast ventures to the storm-battered shore of Ireland's north west coast. At Clifden, a team of experts try to recreate 100-year-old radio technology.
A journey around the coast of the United Kingdom, uncovering stories that have made us the island nation we are today. Series 5 Reversions - 29/31
A journey around the coast of the United Kingdom, uncovering stories that have made us the island nation we are today. Series 5 Reversions Episode 30 of 31
A journey around the edge of the British Isles and beyond to see how shared seas unite us with our European neighbours.
Coast ventures to the storm-battered Atlantic shore of Ireland's north west coast. In Dunkineeley, Dick Strawbridge discovers the secret role that neutral Ireland played assisting the Allies in World War II. Neil Oliver joins the Irish RNLI and finds himself being rescued from the choppy waters off Arranmore Island. Coast, Series 5 Reversions Episode 13 of 31
The Coast team journey around the coast of the United Kingdom. Neil Oliver discovers the story of Churchill's Pirates and their role in defending the Humber.
Coast explores the strong bonds Britain has with its neighbour across the North Sea, Denmark. Coast, Series 5 Reversions Episode 15 of 31
The Coast team are all at sea as they head offshore to explore surprising stories.
To discover the pure pleasure of seaside leisure, the team seek out the ideal locations to enjoy their personal passions and experience the joy of the coast. Nick Crane heads to his beloved Western Isles in Scotland to attempt a daunting, long-coveted mountaineering challenge on the Isle of Skye. For years, Nick has dreamed of climbing the fearsome Cioch. This singular and impressive spear of rock, the scene for a spectacular sword fight in the film Highlander, was only conquered for the first time in 1906. The men who originally attempted the hazardous route to its summit were an unlikely pair - John Mackenzie, a Scottish mountain guide, and Norman Collie, an English professor of chemistry - but their joint endeavour would bind them into a 30-year friendship. Nick uses Victorian mountaineering gear as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of Mackenzie and Collie and climb the Cioch for himself. Along the way, he learns something of the triumph and tragedy of their lives, but Nick's reward at the climax of the hazardous ascent comes with the discovery of a new favourite view - an incredible seascape framed by Britain's most glorious coastal peaks.
Nick Crane explores some of the most spectacular and scary sea cliffs in Britain. Series 8 Reversions Episode 4 of 24
The team discovers the pure pleasure of seaside leisure, seeking out the ideal locations to enjoy their personal passions and experience the joy of the coast. Series 8 Reversions Episode 3 of 24
The coast team are all at sea as they head offshore to explore surprising stories.
What brings joy to Ruth Goodman is knitting. To get some tips for completing a complex fisherman's jumper, Ruth heads to pretty Polperro. Ruth learns how 150 years ago in this picturesque Cornish harbour town, women and men's livelihoods depended on their skills at 'contract knitting', making workwear to order. Polperro's famous woollens were sold all around British shores and beyond. Ruth discovers why seafarers placed so much faith in their fisherman's jumpers and why they should never actually be called jumpers! She also meets the charming 'Graffiti Grannies', a mysterious bunch of public- spirited women who hide their identity; knitting in secret, they leave little woollen treats scattered around the Cornish coast for people to enjoy for free. Tessa Dunlop takes the plunge into the glamorous history of British lidos, those temples of sun-worshipping pleasure which sprang up around our shores in the 1930s. Series 8 Reversions Episode 13 of 24
Nicholas Crane explores the coast of South Wales, where the second-highest tidal range in the world has had a huge impact on lives for thousands of years.
The team journey around the shoreline of East Anglia. Mark Horton investigates the state of seaside piers, while Alice Roberts tries to capture Southwold on canvas.
Coast ventures to the storm-battered Atlantic shore of Ireland's majestic north west coast. At Clifden, Dick Strawbridge leads a team of radio experts who try to recreate the 100-year-old technology that Marconi developed to send the first commercial wireless messages across the Atlantic. Alice Roberts unearths the remarkable remains of the oldest farm in the British Isles, and Nick Crane investigates how Clew Bay, an astonishingly beautiful and unusual landscape, was created when Ireland was covered in ice. Series 5 Reversions Episode 27 of 31
Traditionally the South coast of England is where we've fought our battles, and defended ourselves. A hop, skip and a jump away from the continent, divided only by the narrow stretch of the English Channel. It is Britain's front line.
Dr Alice Roberts investigates how greed led to a village being washed into the sea; Nick unearths the history of slavery in Plymouth; while Neil and Mark try to wreck a ship with nothing but a candle; and Miranda comes face to face with a shark!
South Wales has the second highest tidal range in the world. It is the tidal surge that creates the Severn Bore: Nick follows the wave upstream; whilst Neil explores the history of Cardiff coal; and Alice gets acquainted with the Red Lady of Paviland.
Neil discovers the story of a Welsh Atlantis lost beneath the waves; Miranda goes in search of leatherback turtles; whilst Alice descends into the caves of Great Orme and Nick canoes in the treacherous Menai Straits, to examine the bridges across to Anglesey.
Alice discovers 5,000 year old footprints on the beach; whilst Nick investigates our worst lifeboat disaster; Mark is on the track of the Roman conquest of Northern Europe in Maryport and Neil ventures onto the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay.
Nick investigates how the building of the Antrim Coast mirrors the troubled history of the province; Neil uses computer imagery to rebuild the Titanic; Alice heads to the Giants Causeway and Mark explores the wreck of a Spanish Armada treasure ship.
Neil joins the crew of the trident submarine HMS Vanguard; Miranda goes hunting for Minke whales; whilst Mark and Neil recreate the inter island rocket mail service; and Nick sails the beautiful Western Isles armed only with a 500 year guide book.
Nick takes part in a NATO exercise at the Cape Wrath bombing range; Neil meets the descendants of the people displaced by the Highland Clearances; and the survivors of the worst loss of British Naval life in Scapa Flow; whilst Alice visits the Dounreay reactor.
Miranda heads to the Moray Firth, home to bottle nosed dolphins; Nick investigates the impact of the North Sea oil industry; whilst Neil meets a fishing family in Fraserburgh, facing a bleak future; and Alice reflects on the history of whaling in Dundee.
Nick explores the holy island of Lindisfarne; Alice helps rebuild Britain's first house in Howick; whilst Neil examines the tensions in South Shields that led to race riots in the 1930s and Miranda gets up close and personal with grey seals.
Nick retraces the steps of smugglers in Robin Hoods Bay; Neil goes to the first Butlins Holiday camp in Skegness; whilst Mark sets sail in a recreated bronze age boat; and Alice recreates alum crystals using stale urine!
Nick investigates the freak floods of 1953; Alice explores the landbridge which joined us to the continent; whilst Nick meets Peter Boggis, a man trying to save his home from the sea; and Neil celebrates Trafalgar 200 examining an eye witness account of the battle.
The final programme examines coastal issues highlighted in earlier episodes: sea level rise and erosion; the health of our seas and wildlife, power generation; and access to our coast; as well as development.
Neil Oliver revisits some of the defining areas from the last two series. The first of the return journeys starts at Dover and heads along the South Coast of England, then sweeps around the dramatic peninsula of Cornwall. It then crosses the Irish Sea to Dublin for a bracing encounter with the coastline of Northern Ireland.
Neil Oliver revisits some of the defining areas from the last two series. This return journey starts in north-west England, heads north to Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, then leaps across to the Shetlands. It then returns down the east coast of Scotland and back into England concluding in the south-east, at Dover.
The beautiful cliffs of Dover are a breathtaking sight. On this stretch of the coastline chalk has not only defined and shaped the landscape but has also been the starting point of many innovators and their pioneering work. Our guide Neil Oliver takes over from Nicholas Crane this series, and guides us along this journey of beautiful scenery and remarkable discoveries.
Neil Oliver explores an inaccessible cave inlaid with beautiful stonework - who was the mystery builder? Nick shows us how to read the history of your local beach and Alice traces the story of a foreign boy washed up on the Welsh shore and how he changed the history of medicine.
Why did Alfred Nobel, founder of the famous prizes, pick the South West of Scotland as the ideal site for the world's biggest explosives factory? Nicholas Crane discovers the remarkable use for the island of Ailsa Craig's beautiful granite.
Neil Oliver discovers the network of cables under a Porthcurno beach which wrap around the world in a tale of invention, espionage and surprise. Mark Horton visits the Isles of Scilly to meet the two football teams battling it out in Britain's smallest league and Alice Roberts paints up a storm in St Ives.
Discover why Dublin is the greatest coastal city, join Mark Horton as he goes in search of the wreck of the SS Great Britain and Miranda Krestovnikoff spends a day at the races. Alice Roberts visits a remarkable house designed to see the sea from every room.
The concrete and steel of the North East coast conceal a remarkable history of religious passion that transformed Britain and touched every corner of the world. Neil Oliver explores this ancient coastal landscape and also reveals its contribution to the abolition of the slave trade.
At the outermost edge of the British Isles, we discover the struggle to survive in this harsh but stunningly beautiful myriad of islands big and small. Crystal clear water and powder white beaches conceal a history of human tragedy and joy.
Alice Roberts savours the sea salt at Maldon, Miranda Krestovnikoff goes trawling on the Thames and we discover how the houses of Parliament can claim to be on the coast. We end the series with a remarkable cricket match miles out to sea on the eerie tidal landscape at Goodwin Sands.
Nicholas Crane explores the coast of south Wales.
Over 230 islands make up the Northern Isles - The Shetland and Orkney. These magnificent islands are made up of rock stacks, secret inlets and spectacular scenery, surrounded by sometimes extreme sea and weather conditions that have shaped these islands. Neil Oliver joins an expedition climbing the Old Man of Hoy in Orkney and finds out about the Second World War freedom fighters who risked their lives running the "Shetland Bus". Miranda Krestovnikoff goes in search of an elusive octopus, Nicholas Crane finds evidence of a tsunami that devastated Britain 7,000 years ago and Alice Roberts unearths a mysterious skeleton that reveals more about the lives of ancient Shetlanders.
Neil explores why Sandbanks in Poole Harbour has some of the world's most expensive houses. Alice builds her own coastal 'property' as she investigates the perfect sandcastle. Dick joins an American serviceman on an emotional journey, as he returns to the beach where he was given up for dead during World War Two.
Miranda is in search of the biggest sharks in British waters. Mark sees the Royal Navy's next generation of top secret 'Attack' nuclear submarines and Alice meets a woman who as a child was in the Isle of Man's internment camps, where 'enemy aliens' in Britain were held during the Second World War.
Neil discovers how a beach became the 'fastest place on earth' 80 years ago. Mark explores how Swansea's monopoly of the copper trade sped Nelson towards his Trafalgar victory. Miranda joins dolphins at the coast raising their young and Alice boards a dredger to discover how much sand we are consuming.
Miranda dives into a marine reserve off St Abbs, one of Britain's sites for underwater wildlife. Neil recreates a wartime scheme to train seagulls to search for German U-boats and Hermione explores the 400-year-old connection between a picturesque village and the birth of deep coal mining in Britain.
Neil discovers how mysterious flotsam inspired Columbus' journey to America. Alice explores the botanical puzzle of "The Burren" - where Arctic plants grow next to Mediterranean flowers. Miranda reveals the surprising secrets of seaweed that make it the special ingredient in everything from toothpaste to beer.
Neil explores the site of an experimental Radar, built to spy on the Soviet Union. Alice tries to capture the beauty of Southwold in paint. Nicholas discovers how tides and weather can cause catastrophic floods and Hermione meets a woman who intercepted German radio messages from the Norfolk coast during World War 2.
Neil investigates the tragic story of the first channel swimmer. Alice explores Jersey's remarkable post war transformation from Nazi stronghold to 'Honeymoon Island'. Miranda enters secret caves and Mark reveals why the islanders on Guernsey remain loyal to the Queen, despite being outside the United Kingdom.
Nicholas Crane and a team of experts visit the Blackwater Estuary in Essex.
The team journey around the breathtaking shoreline of East Anglia.
A look around the coast of the British Isles. Alice Roberts boards a dredger to discover how a precious resource is consumed: sand from the seabed for building sites and garden makeovers.
Neil Oliver visits a prehistoric fort on the island of Aran.
The south coast of England was the home of movies long before a frame was shot in Hollywood, thanks to long hours of daylight and glamorous London actors holidaying by the sea. Neil Oliver tries his hand at directing his own silent movie. Alice Roberts re-lives the glamour days of the hovercraft and on the Isle of Wight, we go in search of dinosaur footprints which prove the island has been on an epic voyage heading north from tropical climes 135 million years ago.
Castles are an integral part of the history and landscape of Britain, but the art of building a castle was brought across the channel by William the Conqueror. We visit the medieval quarry in France which supplied the stone for iconic buildings such as the Tower of London and Canterbury Cathedral. Nick Crane sets sail from Dover to visit the white cliffs of France. Connected by land before a mega flood carved the channel, Nick discovers that these divided cliffs are facing parallel challenges of coastal erosion.
3,500 years ago, an international demand for Cornish tin put Cornwall at the centre of an internation arms trade. Mixed with copper, Cornish tin made high quality weapons, giving birth to the British Bronze Age. Hermione Cockburn discovers what happened when American media mogul and inspiration for Citizen Kane William Randolph Hearst, made a run-down castle with a sea view into a little hideaway for him and his mistress on the Welsh coast. Neil Oliver visits Porthcawl to trace the history of the Welsh Great Escape.
We visit Cork Harbour, Titanic's last port of call before sailing to disaster, to hear the story of one lucky Irish passenger who had to reluctantly disembark at Cork. Alice Roberts meets Waterford Crystal's chief scientist to learn how to turn the local beach's sand into glass. Hermione Cockburn creates her own mini earthquake on Killiney beach with a mercury dish and some dynamite, recreating an experiment performed 160 years ago that led to the understanding of the earth's tectonic plates.
Blackpool is Britain's most visited seaside destination. How has the resort succeeded when others have gone under? The pleasure park is one of many innovative attractions imported here from America. Neil Oliver views the coast at high speed with a visit to the RAF's world famous "Pilot Factory". As he takes to the skies in a Hawk Jet with an instructor, can he travel from Anglesey to Blackpool and back in just under half an hour?
The Sea Eagles of the island of Canna were hunted to extinction, but now they have been brought back. We climb into one of their nests perched high on a steep cliff to find out what their chances of survival are. Neil Oliver visits Europe's biggest super-quarry to receive an explosive lesson in how the rock is mined. Armed with a simple ruler on a Scottish beach, Nick Crane learns how the challenge of measuring our coastline led to a new branch of maths that could help our mobile phones get smaller.
In Coast's Norwegian odyssey we explore how the Ice Age is still affecting Norwegians today; a collapsing mountainside threatens to thunder down into one of the country's most beautiful fjord's creating a devastating tsunami. Nick Crane visits the little town of Geiranger which sits in the path of the impending tidal wave.
On Holy Island, we find out how a Viking attach inadvertently united the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, creating a new national identity as they came together to resist a new enemy. Mark Horton navigates to Marine Esplanade in Ravenscar in search of the "town that never was". Destined to be a buzzing Victorian seaside parade, Mark uncovers why it is now just an empty field. Following three unsuccessful attempts to land a boat on Bass Rock, Miranda Krestovnikoff beats Neil Oliver to the challenge and is rewarded with a front row view of the diving gannets.
Dick Strawbridge looks at World War II's secret and disastrous Operation Tiger.
The experts travel along Scotland's east coast, visiting a marine reserve off St Abbs and reporting on the state of the Forth Road Bridge.
In this first episode the team embark on an extraordinary circular tour of the Irish Sea to visit every country and territory within the United Kingdom. The hub for this wheel around the heart of the British Isles is the Isle of Man where Neil Oliver explores the small island. On the edge of the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay, Alice Roberts gets trapped in quicksand to discover why it is so sticky and so deadly. In Northern Ireland, Miranda Krestovnikoff sees how seals cope with the struggle to find food as they bring up pups in the beautiful inland sea of Strangford Lough. Nick Crane goes sea cliff climbing on the remarkable rocks of Anglesey as he explores why this corner of North Wales is the site of some of Britain's biggest earthquakes.
Neil Oliver performs the lead role in an extract from Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" on the stage of a remarkable coastal amphitheatre near Land's End. Nick Crane ventures out into the infamous "Portland Tidal Race" to see how this fearsome tidal surge creates some of the roughest waters in Britain, surprisingly close to the tourist beaches and Georgian splendour of Weymouth. Miranda Krestovnikoff goes in search of a family of White-Beaked Dolphins and Alice Roberts follows her nose to discover what gives the sea its distinctive smell. In Devonport, Mark Horton has privileged access to the historic dockyards to see where the wooden ships of Nelson’s Navy were built. Mark reveals how the steel fleet of the modern Royal Navy still relies on the age old skills of wood working.
Neil Oliver explores the province of Finistère, "The End of the Earth", and meets a lighthouse keeper made famous by one of the world's most reproduced photographs. Nick Crane joins the "Onion Johnnies", who gave us our stereotypical image of a Frenchman, complete with stripy tee shirt, beret and bicycle laden with onions. Alice Roberts reveals the life saving chemical element that's locked away inside seaweed and Miranda Krestovnikoff dives for a seafood delicacy. At Carnac, Mark Horton wanders amongst the mysterious lines of standing stones, erected thousands of years before Stonehenge, to investigate their age old connection with Britain.
Neil Oliver takes part in an aerial dogfight to discover why a Nazi flying ace landed his top secret new plane on Welsh tarmac at the height of the Second World War. Miranda Krestovnikoff visits a seabird paradise, the magical island of Skomer, and at Porth Oer, Alice Roberts attempts to solve the riddle of the "Singing Sands". What makes some very special British beaches whistle when you walk on them? Mark Horton visits and imposing castle at Harlech, one of the best preserved in Britain. Nick Crane explores the violent history of smuggling around the gorgeous Gower Peninsula and abseils into an extraordinary stone structure concealed in the side of a sea cliff.
Just five months before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, he was riding in an open top limo through the crowded streets of Galway. Neil Oliver meets the photographer who managed to get up close and personal with the President and talk him into the perfect snap. Miranda Krestovnikoff explores an odd little island where the mountain hare population is thriving and Nick Crane investigates a local legend that says that Clew Bay has 365 islands, one for each day of the year. Alice Roberts unearths the remarkable remains of the oldest farm in the British Isles.
Neil Oliver joins the crew of the last surviving coal fired, steam-powered, "Clyde Puffer". Amateur artist Alice Roberts explores what drew Joan Eardley to Catterline and how her life was cut tragically short on the verge of great success. Nick Crane reveals how the majestic Loch Ness became part of Britain's biggest building project in the early 1900s. Miranda Krestovnikoff dives into Loch Creran to explore how the tiny worms built a giant reef known as Worm City. Hermione Cockburn visits the "Islands that Roofed the World" and Mark Horton unearths what remains of the mysterious and violent people who once ruled much of Scotland, the Picts.
Coast visits Loch Creran on the Scottish West Coast, where industrious little worms have constructed a remarkable 'worm city' that is one of the biggest of its kind in the world.
The Danes top the polls as the happiest people on earth and Neil Oliver wants to know what they have to smile about. Nick Crane investigates how the Danish made a big business out of selling bacon to Britain. Alice Roberts sets sail in a full scale replica of a Viking longship to see how these ships gave Norsemen the advantage over the English in battle. Miranda Krestovnikoff meets some unflappable red deer. On Heligoland, Mark Horton reveals how in 1947 Britain's Royal Navy blew this tiny island apart in the largest non-nuclear explosion the world had ever seen and Dick Strawbridge gets access to the construction of one of the world's largest offshore wind farms.
Coast breaks new ground with a spectacular journey following the southern shoreline of Ireland, from the Old Head of Kinsale to Ardmore.
Neil Oliver visits the birth place of his seafaring hero Lord Nelson. On the eerie shingle bank of Orford Ness, Alice Roberts leads a team trying to recreate the original war-winning experiment which proved that Radar would work. Off the Norfolk coast, Nick Crane explored the remarkable lost world of "Doggerland". Miranda Krestovnikoff wades out into the mud of the Wash", a vast tidal feeding ground for migrating birds. To investigate the appeal of the glorious Essex Fishing Smacks, Mark Horton joins a crew on competition around the Thames Estuary.
The latest adventure begins in the historic heart of London, continues along the south coast of England and out across the channel to explore the curious coast of Belgium. Nick Crane discovers why the world's biggest cargo ships are on course for London before crossing the channel to Belgium; he rides one of the longest tramways in the world, and investigates how a beautiful seaside resort became the base for Albert Einstein's battle against Nazi tyranny. Neil Oliver reveals the remarkable tale of Hitler's audacious gamble in 1942, when his biggest battleships steamed straight along the English Channel in broad daylight. Alice Roberts uncovers the surprising story behind the rise and fall of the seaside landlady. In the fabulously preserved medieval city of Bruges Mark Horton unearths why our ancestors came there 700 years ago to re-discover the forgotten art of making bricks. Plus, Miranda Krestovnikoff is on the Belgian coast to meet the last few men who still use heavy horses to fish for shrimp.
The team's journey continues around the stunning shores of Devon and Cornwall. Nick Crane is on a fishing expedition on board one of the last remaining Brixham trawlers. He also explores how Henry VIII, fearing attack after his famous divorce, built a string of cleverly positioned forts all along the south coast. The Isles of Scilly are surrounded by lush, golden green underwater meadows of seagrass; Miranda Krestovnikoff explores the diverse wildlife of this natural sub-sea paradise. Mark Horton reveals the extraordinary story of how Lawrence of Arabia went to Plymouth, where he helped develop revolutionary fast rescue boats that saved countless lives in the Second World War. Dick Strawbridge learns the surprising secrets of the global steam power revolution pioneered in the tin mines of Cornwall some 200 years ago. And with the aid of some big wind machines, Alice Roberts creates her own perfect storm.
Coast ventures out to brand new territory, the astonishing man-made shoreline of the Netherlands. Nick Crane explores how ingenious Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences like no others on earth following the great North Sea flood in 1953 which killed thousands of people in the Netherlands and Britain. Nick also discovers how, during the Second World War, traitors from the British Indian Army took part in the Nazi occupation of the tiny isle of Texel - the unlikely site for the last battle in Europe of the Second World War. Coast newcomer, historian Tessa Dunlop, is on the trail of Tulipmania, the extraordinary trade in tulip bulbs that's said to have nearly bankrupted the Dutch nation nearly 400 years ago. Mark Horton reveals the age old skills that have made the Dutch the Grand Masters at creating new living space from the sea. Adam Henson, himself a farmer, investigates why cows from the coastal plains of the northern Netherlands became the most sought after milk producers in the world, and one of the most familiar sights in the British countryside. Miranda Krestovnikoff experiences how the Dutch delight in devouring raw herring as a sea side snack!
Coast embarks on an island-hopping adventure in Scotland around the stunning Western Isles and out to the northern outpost of Shetland. On Eriskay, Nick has a close encounter with a family of dolphins and he is invited to a golden wedding anniversary where the whole island gather to party. On the Isle of Lewis, Nick meets the leader of the Guga Hunters, a small band of men following the age-old tradition of catching young gannets. Neil Oliver explores the tragic shipwreck of the Iolaire. On New Year's Eve 1918, over 200 servicemen returning home from the First World War, drowned within sight of their homes on the Isle of Lewis as the Iolaire was torn apart in ferocious seas. Hermione Cockburn is on an expedition to Staffa. Armed with an acoustics expert, a violinist, and a starting pistol, she conducts a curious experiment to explore the remarkable musical quality of Fingal's Cave. Miranda Krestovnikoff is on Shetland to search for the shy otters who struggle to survive on this wild coast. Tessa Dunlop is on a deep-sea survey ship to see how the epic voyage of HMS Challenger first revealed the astonishing secrets of life in the depths of the world's oceans.
Coast travels right around the wonderful Welsh coast from the Severn estuary, to the Dee estuary. Nick Crane investigates the evidence that a devastating tsunami crashed on to the coast of Wales and England some 400 years ago. Villages were wiped off the map and thousands died, leaving the survivors to believe they had suffered the judgement of God; but was it a tidal wave that was to blame? Nick also discovers why scientists planning an expedition to the Red Planet find the Welsh coast a surprisingly good stand-in for the surface of Mars. Alice Roberts attempts to get airborne with just helium balloons attached to her waist as she tests the claim that the world's first powered flight was actually made by a Welsh carpenter. Meanwhile, Miranda Krestovnikoff lands where few people ever tread - on Grassholm; an extraordinary island normally kept exclusively for the birds. In 1947 two brothers were on holiday on Anglesey when one sketched a rough notion in the sand for a completely new kind of vehicle - Dick Strawbridge explores how that coastal blueprint became the plan for the Land Rover. Plus Tessa Dunlop reveals how some 30 years ago an army of local volunteers managed to keep 3,000 Asians, who had been expelled from Uganda, warm and well-fed in an abandoned military base during a Welsh seaside winter.
For centuries Britons have charted a course to the glorious coast of Sweden for its treasure trove of riches, now for the first time Coast explores the British connections to this stunning shore on the edge of the Baltic Sea. Nick Crane's journey starts in one of the most picturesque parts of Sweden, the dramatic peaks of the High Coast are a wonder of the world and, remarkably, the mountains are still growing at the rate of one centimetre every year. Nick also finds out why Britain's early engineers had to come to Sweden for iron to help forge our Industrial Revolution. Alice Roberts explores the extraordinary story of how, during the Second World War, Britain's military effort almost ground to a halt without Swedish ball bearings and how brave British servicemen beat the German blockade of the country. Mark Horton visits the world's most remarkable shipwreck, The Vasa, which has been called the Tutankhamun of maritime archaeology. Dick Strawbridge climbs the rigging of one of the last great commercial sailing ships, known as the Windjammers. As recently as the 1940s these tall ships managed to give steamships a run for their money. Dick discovers how in the days of Empire, the Windjammers connected Britain to Australia with their legendary grain races. The team also explore Abba Island and search out moose in Sweden's frozen North.
Coast is back in the UK and, for the first time, each episode will feature stories from every part of the British Isles, taking viewers on a 'journey of the imagination' which explores the universal themes that bind everyone together. Nick Crane signs on as a deck-hand with a tall ship, reliving the great days of sail on a gruelling yet exhilarating journey between the Northern Isles of Scotland. Nick hopes to fulfil a childhood ambition by setting foot on tiny 'Fair Isle'. This is the most remote populated outpost in the British Isles and home to just 70 hardy souls. Can Nick uncover the mystery of how this tiny community's struggle to survive was successful, when many other larger Scottish islands were abandoned? At Scapa Flow on Orkney, Neil Oliver explores the conspiracy theories surrounding the mysterious death of Lord Kitchener. Kitchener was one of over 600 soldiers and sailors who perished when their ship went down. Neil meets locals on Orkney who believe tales of suspicious events on the fateful night of the wreck. Historian Tessa Dunlop hopes to witness an extraordinary and uplifting sight that is special to the Western Isles of Scotland: the mysterious Green Ray. What causes the exceptionally rare Green Ray and how can Tessa be guaranteed to see it? On the Isle of Wight Coast newcomer Andy Torbet finds himself scaling slippery new heights on the Needles. There are no records of his climb being done before. He is attempting the perilous ascent to solve the mystery of why this needle of chalk has resisted erosion by the waves for millions of years. There is a special appearance by legendary folk singer June Tabor who tells the tale of the mysterious Selkie, a mythical creature that can take the shape of man or a seal.
Coast ventures to the furthest flung reaches of the British Isles to discover the most extreme locations, lifestyles and challenges of 'Life Beyond The Edge'. Nick Crane explores the exotic Isles of Scilly - 28 miles beyond Land's End, these are England's final full stop. On magical isles with a Caribbean feel, Nick joins the locals to attempt one of the most bizarre walks in Britain, as they try to wade on foot through the surging seas from island to island. It's a challenge only possible at exceptionally low-tide, yet still the seawater threatens to swamp them. To discover what life is like on this extreme edge, Nick visits the last house on the very tip of the most westerly inhabited isle. He pushes beyond the edges of Britain's history too, walking back in time to the bronze age, as the seabed reveals evidence of an ancient settlement, long submerged beneath the waves. Is this the site of the legendary 'Lost Kingdom of Lyonesse', said to be the last resting place of King Arthur? On precipitous slopes, beyond the edge of Devon, Coast newcomer and social historian Ruth Goodman follows in the footsteps of the remarkable Branscombe cliff farmers, who for generations followed a hardy way of life that's now gone with the sea breeze. Ruth relives a day in the ceaseless toil of the last man left on these perilous cliffs, the aptly named 'Cliffie' Gosling, who together with his trusty donkeys made the steep ascent between land and sea daily until the 1960s. Mark Horton explores the cutting edge of Victorian information technology in a celebration of one of Britain's most audacious engineering achievements. The titanic struggle to create the transatlantic telegraph service between Britain and America would eventually herald the birth of global communications, but how did Brunel's mighty ship, the Great Eastern, manage to lay a cable 2,000 miles along the seabed to transmit and receive tiny electric signals between continents? Mark and the team rebuild
Exploring the bonds we have with our neighbours across the North Sea in Denmark.
Starting at the very tip of Jutland where the North Sea meets the Baltic, Neil Oliver watches the two seas collide. Nick Crane investigates how the Danish made a big business out of selling bacon to Britain. Following defeats in the Napoleonic wars and the loss of lucrative farming land the Danes put poor soil to work rearing pork. And a retired British man takes on the tough challenge of the North Sea Beach Marathon.
Coast explores the strong bonds we have with our neighbours across the North Sea in Denmark. The Danes top the polls as the happiest people on Earth and Neil Oliver wants to know what they have to smile about. He discovers how their coast keeps the Danes happy. Miranda Krestovnikoff meets some unflappable red deer, who manage to make themselves at home on a windswept shoreline despite the fact that they share the sand dunes with tanks from the Danish army. And Dick Strawbridge gets access to the construction of one of the world's largest offshore wind farms.
Before air travel, Britain's harbours were gateways to global adventure. There are more than a thousand ports, big and small, around the UK coastline, all with fascinating secret stories, many of them revealed for the first time in this episode. At the Cornish fishing harbour of Newlyn, Nick Crane re-lives an astonishing, unsung feat of heroic British seamanship. In 1854, a tiny fishing boat, The Mystery, set sail from Newlyn to make the 12,000 mile voyage to Melbourne. She was the smallest boat ever to attempt the journey, but the seven Cornishmen on board were prepared to risk their lives in the world's wildest seas to join the Australian gold rush. In the ship-building town of Barrow-in-Furness, Dick Strawbridge explores a forgotten top secret project involving building airships that might rival the German Zeppelins. In the face of entrenched opposition, the venture would be dubbed 'the work of an idiot' by one royal navy admiral. Meanwhile, the Zeppelins soared to new heights, the unlikely secret of their success being the cow guts used to make the gas bags which kept them aloft. Elsewhere, Tessa Dunlop heads to Portsmouth to discover the hidden history of the tattoo, Mark Horton joins an archaeological dig at the Irish Pompeii in Northern Ireland and Ruth Goodman investigates how the building of a new harbour and docks at Birkenhead would lead to the opening of the world's first municipal park there in 1847. There is also a celebration of a classic piece of British eccentricity at Peasholm Park in Scarborough, where, in a tradition going back more than 80 years, staff from Scarborough Council take to the boating pond concealed inside man-sized model warships, and boldly facing the torpedoes, shellfire and dive bombers of a hostile fleet.
Nick Crane leads a journey around the wildest shores of the British Isles to explore dramatic untold stories of peril from the seas. The Great Storm of 1703 was the most devastating weather event ever to hit southern Britain, when lethal winds whipped in from the Atlantic to claim the lives of one in five seamen of the Royal Navy. Thousands perished and the winds of the storm set more than 400 windmills ablaze and blew ships from our shores to Norway. On the tiny Scottish island of Tiree, Dick Strawbridge reveals a remarkable story from the Second World War of how the timing of the D-Day landings was determined by the heroism of RAF weather forecasters, flying hazardous missions far out into the storms of the Atlantic. As their vital missions routinely took them head on into storms that would have grounded all other flights, many aircraft crews were lost and their bodies never recovered. Dick meets one of these veteran flyers to discover how they managed to fly just feet above raging seas, with lightning striking the aircraft itself, in an attempt to find a break in the weather that would give the troops on the beaches of Normandy a fighting chance. Poet and storyteller Ian McMillan uncovers the forgotten story of another shipwreck, which held Britain transfixed at the outbreak of the First World War. For two days in 1914, more than 200 victims aboard the hospital ship Rohilla fought for their lives within sight of the Yorkshire fishing port of Whitby. Mary Roberts, one of those rescued, had survived the sinking of the Titanic two years earlier, but said her experience on the Rohilla was even worse. With historic lifeboats, relatives of the victims and 1914 newsreel footage, Ian McMillan relives the tragic events that changed our lifeboat services forever.
Nick Crane confronts the terrifying power of the tides head-on as he paddles for dear life in a kayak to conquer the fearsome, tidal rapids that swirl off the island of Anglesey.
Coast explores the glorious diversity and endless delights offered by our beaches. The British Isles' stunning range of sand, shingle and rock formations creates some wonderful, unique havens for wildlife and opens up surprising possibilities for human endeavour and outright pleasure. Now the Coast team can reveal these in 'The Secret Life of Beaches'. In Scotland, zoologist and ex-soldier Andy Torbet braves one of the most dangerous beaches in Britain. Andy investigates how a RAF bombing range on the sands manages to double as a secret retreat for a colony of seals, who seem to thrive while basking within earshot of the bomb blasts. Off the coast of Newport, Nick does some detective work to find out how a criminal gang was uncovered after local detectives dug deep into the Welsh shore. On the sands of Aberlady Bay in Scotland new Coast presenter, military historian Nick Hewitt, unearths the steel skeletons of two top-secret midget submarines, part of the family of specialist craft which played a pivotal role in sinking The Tirpitz, one of Hitler's mightiest battleships. These midget subs, abandoned on the beach since the Second World War, were dubbed the 'X-Craft' and Nick meets a dare-devil veteran submariner, Bill Morrison, who fought in them and survived to tell the tale. Bill still holds the world record for the deepest death-defying escape from a submarine, when his own X-Craft was stranded on the seabed 200ft below the waves. Finally, Nick Crane digs deep to discover what it's like to live on Britain's most unusual beach, the eerily beautiful, vast shingle spit at Dungeness in Kent. He meets an artist who's taken up residence in a first-class railway carriage, abandoned on the beach. Together Nick and the painter explore what makes this vast ocean of pebbles such an oddly inspiring location.
The team returns to visit more locations around the nation's shoreline, beginning by exploring a diverse range of invasions. Nick Crane heads to the Channel Islands to learn about the German occupation of Guernsey during the Second World War, while Tessa Dunlop visits Norfolk to hear stories of a little-known Zeppelin bombing campaign on Britain during the Great War. Ruth Goodman goes to the Isle of Man to find out how it became the home of the TT motorcycle race, which attracts around 10,000 bikers from around the world each year, and Andy Torbet encounters a colony of water voles on a rocky outcrop in the seas off western Scotland.
The team reports on stories of workers from around the UK's shores. Nick Crane is in Grimsby to tell the tale of an abandoned refrigeration plant whose employees once kept Britain's biggest fishing fleet afloat, and also joins a team of drivers parking hundreds of new British cars on board a huge purpose-built transporter on the Tyne. Neil Oliver hears about the thousands of shipyard labourers on the Clyde who fought against job losses in 1971, and Tessa Dunlop is in Cumbria to reveal why the Royal Navy's guns were more accurate than anyone else's 200 years ago. Plus, comedian Ken Dodd joins poet Ian McMillan to celebrate the entertainers who worked so hard to get laughs from the holidaymakers of Blackpool in the Edwardian era.
The presenters seek out the ideal locations to enjoy their personal passions. Nick Crane heads to the Inner Hebrides to attempt a mountaineering challenge on the Isle of Skye, and reveals how Thomas Cook was inspired in the mid-19th century to create his famous package tours by the steamships criss-crossing Scottish waters. Avid knitter Ruth Goodman gets some tips for completing a complex fisherman's jumper by visiting Polperro in Cornwall, learning how people's livelihoods 150 years ago depended on their skills at making workwear to order. Poet Ian McMillan looks for creative ideas in the Cornish seaside resort of St Ives and explores the life and work of self-taught artist Alfred Wallis, and Tessa Dunlop explores the glamorous history of British lidos - public outdoor swimming pools that sprang up around the UK in the 1930s.
The team journey around the great estuaries of Britain where 20 million people live, and a dazzling variety of animals thrive. Nick Crane explores the wealth of wildlife and industry that are attracted to the Firth of Forth, the mighty estuary that feeds Edinburgh, and must answer a deceptively tricky question - why is the sea salty? Nick also investigates a remarkable natural phenomenon discovered accidentally on this coast in 1834. Miranda Krestovnikoff witnesses the extraordinary transformation that salmon must make to their bodies to avoid death by dehydration as they migrate from freshwater to saltwater, and learns how Scottish fish farmers uncovered the secret of managing salmon in captivity? Tessa Dunlop reveals how the Victorian zeal for cleanliness turned the Thames into a giant self-flushing toilet bowl. Mark Horton discovers the struggle to build a rail tunnel deep under the Severn estuary between England and Wales, a challenge that was finally accomplished in 1886.
Nick Crane explores some of the most spectacular and scary sea cliffs in Britain. He embarks on an elevated journey to take in the high spots of the Yorkshire coastline. Tessa Dunlop meets a remarkable woman who witnessed a top-secret American 'invasion' of the English south coast during the Second World War. The US Rangers scaling the cliffs at Burton Bradstock were practising for their D-Day assault on similar terrain in Normandy. On the magnificent sea cliffs that surround Ramsey Island, biologist Sarah Beynon hunts for the superheroes of the insect world who do the island's dirty work, the dung beetles. They are critical to the success of the island's most famous wildlife residents, the choughs. Cassie Newland rummages through the extraordinary rubbish of ordinary people from the recent past at a cliff top dump at Lyme Regis which is sliding into the sea. Plus Andy Torbet takes part in a daring night-time exercise with commando recruits.
The Coast team are all at sea, as they head offshore to explore surprising stories of love and death, cannibalism and communist submarines, seasickness and a seafaring prince.
Coast explores the glorious diversity and endless delights offered by our beaches. The British Isles' stunning range of sand, shingle and rock formations creates some wonderful, unique havens for wildlife and opens up surprising possibilities for human endeavour and outright pleasure. Now the Coast team can reveal these in The Secret Life of Beaches. In Scotland, zoologist and ex-soldier Andy Torbet braves one of the most dangerous beaches in Britain. Andy investigates how a RAF bombing range on the sands manages to double as a secret retreat for a colony of seals, who seem to thrive while basking within earshot of the bomb blasts. On the sands of Aberlady Bay in Scotland, military historian Nick Hewitt unearths the steel skeletons of two top-secret midget submarines, part of the family of specialist craft which played a pivotal role in sinking The Tirpitz, one of Hitler's mightiest battleships. These midget subs, abandoned on the beach since the Second World War, were dubbed the X-Craft, and Nick meets a daredevil veteran submariner, Bill Morrison, who fought in them and survived to tell the tale. Bill still holds the world record for the deepest death-defying escape from a submarine, when his own X-Craft was stranded on the seabed 200ft below the waves. Finally, Nick Crane digs deep to discover what it's like to live on Britain's most unusual beach, the eerily beautiful, vast shingle spit at Dungeness in Kent. He meets an artist who has taken up residence in a first-class railway carriage, abandoned on the beach. Together Nick and the painter explore what makes this vast ocean of pebbles such an oddly inspiring location. Series 7 Reversions Episode 10 of 10
The team explore stories on both sides of the English Channel. Nick Crane visits Mont St Michel and Mark Horton looks at the origins of Britain's Ordnance Survey.
Nick Crane visits Cape Wrath, discovering where wolves once trod.
The team discover untold tales of explorers around our shores, and far beyond, including a stop-off down under in Australia. In Cornwall, Nick Crane uncovers the most astonishing artistic exploration of Britain's coast. 200 years ago a young artist, William Daniell, embarked on a ten-year journey around the edge of Britain to produce hundreds of colour illustrations in the age before photography. But who was the forgotten companion who travelled with him, and what made these two artist explorers mysteriously go their separate ways? Nick takes to the sea in an authentic replica of Britain's oldest known boat. How will this paddle-powered design from the Bronze Age perform today? Nick also tells the tale of the first sailor to circumnavigate Britain some 2,400 years ago, the fabled explorer dubbed 'Pytheas the Greek', who first mapped our isles. Mark Horton reveals the story of explorer and adventurer Lachlan Macquarie. Born on a tiny Scottish Isle two centuries ago, he went on to establish the country he named Australia. Scotsman Major general Lachlan Macquarie is virtually unknown in Britain, but he is a hero down under, heralded as the 'Father of Australia'. How did Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth manage to defy the British establishment to lay the foundations both for present-day Sydney and the new nation of Australia, using convict labour and radical social reforms? Tessa Dunlop investigates the hidden history of the Pilgrim Fathers. Why did the Pilgrims flee Britain to live in Holland for ten years before their eventual voyage to found modern America? Tessa discovers how these English explorers for religious freedom created the archetypal American celebration of Thanksgiving from a tradition they learnt in the Netherlands. Andy Torbet teams up with modern-day scientific explorers trying to crack an age-old puzzle - how can you count the number of fish in the sea? Andy joins an underwater mission that has been underway in Scottish waters for over
Coast embarks on its first adventure to North America as this explores British connections far offshore and surprising stories in the waters just off Britain's shoreline.
Coast explores surprising stories that connect our great cities to the sea. Nick Crane pays tribute to the unsung and astonishing mega-port of Immingham, Tessa Dunlop uncovers the astonishing story of how Hitler's bombers could have drowned London and Ruth Goodman investigates the clandestine coastal sex trade that scandalised Victorian Britain.
The team explore what becomes of our coast in winter. Nick Crane visits Cornwall, the storm central of Britain's rugged coastline and Neil Oliver experiences the extraordinary Viking Fire Festival on Shetland.
Miranda Krestovnikoff wades out in the mud of the Wash, a vast tidal feeding ground for migrating birds. Miranda discovers the ingenious strategies that different birds use to fatten themselves up on the seafood of the Wash. Neil Oliver visits the birthplace of his seafaring hero Lord Nelson and explores the Norfolk shoreline that inspired the young Nelson to greatness. He finds the curious ship-shaped pond Nelson dug at the family home while not fighting the French. And off the Norfolk coast, Nick Crane explores the remarkable lost world of Doggerland, the home of the early Britons lost to sea some 10,000 years ago as sea levels rose after the last ice age.
Why do we love to be beside the seaside? Coast finds out why the seaside is good for you.
Coast explores the riches within our seas and the surprising stories of how we use them.
Coast explores why we're at our most ingenious and inventive on the edges of our isles.
Coast investigates how the Irish Sea touches us all and has shaped our island story.
The team takes on nature at its most perilous on the wild waters of the British coast.
Coast explores the endless nooks and crannies of our curving and twisted coastline.
Tessa Dunlop and Neil Oliver present the ultimate guide to the Cornish coast - from the River Tamar to Tintagel Castle - as they tell the stories that make this stretch so unique. As well as choosing the pick of Coast stories from the past ten years, Tessa hops on and off a variety of boats to delve into untold secrets from these shores. From line fishing with a local Looe fisherman, exploring serpentine rock on The Lizard with a leading geologist, to uncovering a story of tragedy at sea and finding out what it is like living the wild coastal dream in the storm-hit harbour of Porthleven.
Tessa Dunlop and Neil Oliver present an insider guide to southern Wales - from the Severn Bridge to St Davids - as they unearth the stories that give this coast its wild appeal. Building on the best of ten years of Coast stories from these shores, Tessa takes to the seas to seek out new stories and extreme experiences for the guide. She tries her hand at coastal rowing, braves the high seas to explore why Gower was made Britain's first area of outstanding natural beauty, gets close to nature in a kayak at Worm's Head and tries her hand at a local tradition - cockle picking - at Penclawdd.
Tessa Dunlop and Neil Oliver present their insiders' guide to our frontline shoreline - England's south east. From the heart of the capital to Hastings, they reveal the stories of trade and defence that characterise this coast. As well as selecting the best Coast stories from a decade of exploring these shores, Tessa hitches a ride with the Thames river police to the new London Gateway, where she gets an overview of Britain's trade with the world from the vantage point of a giant crane. From Ramsgate, she embarks on one of the Dunkirk 'Little Ships' to discover the vital role it played during the Second World War, before making her way to Dover, where she finds a magnificent Roman lighthouse that has guarded the shores for centuries.
Neil Oliver and Tessa Dunlop present the ultimate guide to East Anglia - from The Wash to Canvey Island. Building on the best of ten years of Coast stories from these shores, Neil takes to the sea on a variety of boats to seek out new stories for the Great Guide and bring well-known ones up to date, from seal-watching at England's biggest grey seal colony to extreme coastal erosion at Happisburgh. From its earliest pre-history, Neil explores the incredible stories that underpin this coastline, which was once our landbridge to the continent, and he also celebrates more recent times with a trip aboard a floating relic of the herring industry. Neil finishes his exploration at Orford Ness, where the battle between sea and land is still being fought out - and where one of East Anglia's most distinctive landmarks is at risk from the encroaching waters.
Neil Oliver and Tessa Dunlop present their insiders' guide to the North Sea coast, a stretch that takes in two nations and is book-ended by two huge estuaries, the Forth in Scotland and the Humber in England. As well as his pick of Coast stories from the last decade in Britain, Neil seeks out new stories for the guide. With exclusive access to an epic military shipbuilding project at Rosyth, Neil voyages to the island of Inchmickery and discovers a bird colony with a difference. From there he explores a tragic tale that still haunts the fishing town of Eyemouth, before taking in the Holy Island of Lindisfarne to make a dramatic archaeological discovery.
Neil Oliver and Tessa Dunlop present their insiders' guide to the Western Isles - a coastal cluster of a myriad sea-girt islets that include the Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll and St Kilda. Neil sets out on an island-hopping adventure that takes in three of the most stunning settings: Mull, Staffa and Gometra. Along his journey taking to the waves on a range of wonderfully restored vessels, he compiles our great guide from a wider canvas of Coast stories that stretch right across the Western Isles. He learns the secrets of crab fishing from a professional, samples a local delicacy from a surprising source, searches for stunning wildlife and meets the sole resident of one of Scotland's most remote islands.
Neil Oliver and Tessa Dunlop present the ultimate guide to the heart of England's south coast - a stretch book-ended by two pebble beaches at Brighton and Chesil. To try to capture what makes these 'sunshine'shores so special, Neil selects his pick of Coast stories from the past ten years, as well as searching out exciting new ones for our guide. He hops on and off a full flotilla of boats, including Sir Ben Ainslie's prototype yacht for the America's Cup, a Southampton superyacht, a vessel at the heart of a project to reinvigorate the Solent oyster population and an offshore powerboat. Neil finds out why this coast is a maritime leader, a geological marvel and a holidaymaker's dream.
Neil Oliver and Tessa Dunlop present the ultimate guide to the UK's Irish Sea Coast - a sprawling, dynamic shoreline that fringes four nations, England, ScotIand, Wales and Northern Ireland. Building on a decade's worth of the best of Coast stories from these shores, Tessa goes in search of brand new tales and experiences for our Guide. She hitches a ride on a Liverpool tugboat to bring a giant container ship to shore, crosses the Irish Sea on a supersized luxury cruise liner, and seeks out a little-known surviving sister ship of the legendary Titanic.
The Coast team visits the vast, windswept mudflats of the Solway Firth. They are a haven for barnacle geese but heartbreaking for local coastguards who must rescue illegal cockle pickers.
Miranda Krestovnikoff discovers how lobster stocks are being sustained by the local fishing industry in Padstow, Cornwall.
The team journey to Saltburn, a resort founded by the Victorian entrepreneur Henry Pease. His vision was to create a 'heavenly city above the cliffs'.
Miranda Krestovnikoff meets the puffins of the Shiant Isles.
The team explores the Isle of Man, where Miranda Krestovnikoff searches for the biggest sharks in British waters. Alice Roberts meets a woman with a remarkable story of childhood in the Isle of Man's internment camps, where 'enemy aliens' in Britain were held during World War II.
Mark Horton explores how Swansea's monopoly of the world copper trade helped Nelson towards his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Neil Oliver travels to Langland Bay to meet Betty Philips and makes lavabread out of lavaweed, a Welsh delicacy. Neil also meets Rowland Pritchard, the owner of Gower Salt Marsh Lamb co-operative.
Miranda Krestovnikoff dives into a spectacular marine reserve off St Abbs, one of Britain's outstanding sites for underwater wildlife. Neil Oliver travels up to North Berwick to visit the Bass Rock, once upon a time the site of one of Scotland's most notorious prisons.
Neil Oliver discovers the remarkable story of the World War II freedom fighters who risked everything running the Shetland Bus, a series of top secret missions into Nazi-occupied Norway. One of the worst environmental disasters hit the coast at Garths Ness in 1993: Braer, an oil tanker, ran aground and spilt 84,000 tonnes of toxic crude oil into the sea, polluting Shetland's coastline and wildlife. Neil takes a ride on the world's shortest scheduled flight, between Westray and Papa Westray, which provides an important link to these small communities. Mark Horton explores dangerous waters when he joins one of the world's most sophisticated survey ships on a mission to find the uncharted hazards that wreck unwary vessels in Orkney.
Coast breaks new ground with a spectacular journey following the southern shoreline of Ireland, from the Old Head of Kinsale to Ardmore.
A look around the coast of the British Isles. Mark Horton visits Rottingdean to peek over Rudyard Kipling's garden wall and follow in the footsteps of the Victorian celebrity hunters, before unearthing the history of a unique Victorian electric railway which ran underwater - Magnus Volks' bizarre and beautiful 'Daddy Long-legs'.
Neil Oliver searches for sea eagles, recently reintroduced to the island of Canna. Kate Rew hunts for the marvellously titled bone-eating snot flower. Series 4 Reversions Episode 8 of 23
Coast heads high into the wild Atlantic to the majestic Faroe Islands, where Neil Oliver discovers how romance blossomed for British soldiers and Faroese women during the Second World War's 'Operation Valentine'.
The Coast team continue to explore coastlines around the world.
Alice Roberts visits a processing plant that supplies one-fifth of Britain's gas requirements via the world's longest sub-sea pipeline. In 40 years the gas will all be gone, but Alice discovers a potential new form of renewable energy - osmotic power. Could a simple but clever mix of sea and fresh water provide the answer to our future energy needs?
Mark Horton travels to Ravenscar to investigate the resort that never was, and Neil Oliver is in Hull to retrace the footsteps of 19th-century immigrants who passed through the port on their way to a new life in the New World.
The team are travelling down the UK's North East coast. Miranda Krestovnikoff finally manages to get out to Bass Rock, Neil Oliver investigates a legend in Cullercoats and Dick Strawbridge has a riveting experience in Sunderland.
Neil Oliver becomes a silent movie director as he films a scene from The Mayor of Casterbridge using an antique camera, to reveal how pioneers in Brighton taught the world to make movies long before Hollywood shot a frame.
Neil Oliver travels to the majestic Faroe Islands to discover how romance blossomed for British soldiers and Faroese women during the Second World War's 'Operation Valentine'. Neil begins his island hopping journey at Glensanda, the site of Europe's biggest super-quarry, which provides the rock to make the roads of Britain roll. He also searches for sea eagles, recently reintroduced to the island of Canna.
Nicholas Crane crosses the Solent to find out what's happened to England's largest island - the Isle of Wight.
In Dover, Alice Roberts relives the glamour days of the hovercraft crossing to France. She takes to the waves to learn how to fly a hovercraft, and discovers the science behind this British invention in an experiment with kitchen scales and a hair dryer. She also finds out what brought the cross-channel service to its untimely end. Series 4 Reversions Episode 18 of 23
At RAF Valley in Anglesey, Neil Oliver discovers if he's got the 'right stuff' to fly fighter jets as he takes to the sky with an instructor from the RAF's world-famous 'pilot factory'
Mark Horton is on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, reliving the first Viking raid on our shores in June 793 AD. He discovers how those marauding Norsemen galvanised the warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to come together and form the English nation.
Mark Horton visits Claremont Pier in Lowestoft and investigates the current perilous state of our seaside piers.
Nick Crane goes sea cliff climbing on the remarkable rocks of Anglesey as he explores why this part of Wales is the site of some of Britain's biggest earthquakes.
Beginning at the famous Oyster Festival in Whitstable, Neil Oliver ventures offshore to the remarkable Red Sands Sea Forts. Built as air defences in the Second World War they went on to inspire the design of the first North Sea oil rigs.
A journey along the sights of England's South West coast from Dorset, through Devon, and onwards to the tip of Cornwall. Neil Oliver finds out how the arrival of steam trains transformed the South Coast by opening it up to tourists. He also performs the lead role in an extract from Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' on the stage of a remarkable open air amphitheatre near Land's End, discovering how this unique theatre was built thanks to the obsession of one woman determined to stage the Bard's famous play next to the sea at her Cornish home. Miranda Krestovnikoff goes in search of a family of White-Beaked Dolphins. These elusive cold water creatures are rarely seen off the English Coast, so why is this group so far south? Nearby, on a rocky South Coast beach, Adrian Gray demonstrates the gravity-defying art of balancing stones. Nick Crane gets a ride inside a travelling museum, a tribute to the Yelloway Coaches company that has been transporting Northerners to the South Coast since the 1930s. And Alice Roberts is following her nose to discover what gives the sea that distinctive smell we associate with holidays, which for many animals is a smell that signals the difference between life and death.
Nick Crane joins the Onion Johnnies. For nearly 200 years the Onion Johnnies have pedalled their produce around Britain, giving us our stereotypical image of a Frenchman, complete with stripy t-shirt, beret and bicycle laden with onions. Nick finds out what's so special about their onions and meets one of the Johnnies who married a Geordie girl.
A look around the coast of the British Isles. Nick Crane ventures out into the infamous Portland tidal race to see how this fearsome tidal surge creates some of the roughest waters in Britain surprisingly close to the tourist beaches and Georgian splendour of Weymouth. Miranda Krestovnikoff goes in search of a family of white-beaked dolphins, these elusive cold water creatures are rarely seen off the English coast, so why is this group so far south?
The imposing castle at Harlech is one of the best preserved in Britain but Mark Horton discovers how it would have looked radically different and even more terrifying when it was built to subdue the Welsh in the 13th century. Across the bay, Neil Oliver is at the Welsh's rival castle at Criccieth.
On this Coast journey from Anglesey to Blackpool, Neil is joined by some familiar faces. Nick Crane is seeking out the story of a tiny harbour that played a big part in making a mountain of money at Parys Mountain, and Almwich Port which served it. Hermione Cockburn discovers how postcards from the past reveal a vital message for the future of our seaside in Rhyl, and the history of the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool. Miranda Krestovnikoff is on a sand dune safari in search of creatures great and small. Mark Horton is hunting for the remains of what was once the world's biggest private dock at the site of an early soap manufacture at Port Sunlight. Neil takes a journey of a different kind to the coast about a RAF jet. He also explores a shipwreck that is disappearing before his eyes and sees if he can trace Alice and her wonderland in Llandudno.
Nick Crane explores the violent history of smuggling around the gorgeous Gower Peninsula, and abseils into an extraordinary stone structure concealed in the side of a sea cliff. Now only accessible by sea or by ropes, 200 years ago this was the perfect smugglers' stronghold, but Nick learns that it had an even more mysterious previous life - as a massive medieval bird house.
Exploring Britain's coastline. Coast ventures to brand new territory, the storm battered Atlantic shore of Irelands majestic northwest coast. Local legend says that Clew Bay has 365 islands one for each day of the year; Nick Crane investigates how this astonishingly beautiful and unusual landscape was created when Ireland was covered in ice. Neil Oliver discovers how the infamous 16th century Pirate Queen Grace OMalley turned her coastal home into an impregnable fortress. And Alice Roberts unearths the remarkable remains of the oldest farm in the British Isles, a complex system of walls and houses laid out before Stonehenge; the ancient ruins of these Stone Age farmers have been buried in the peat for over 5000 years.
Coast ventures to the storm battered Atlantic shore of Ireland's majestic north west coast. Neil Oliver visits an Atlantic sea monitoring station off the coast of Galway. Further up the coast at Clifden, Dick Strawbridge leads a team of radio experts trying to recreate 100-year-old technology developed by Marconi, who sent the first commercial wireless messages across the Atlantic using steam generators powered by peat and an antenna over half a mile long.
Just five months before president John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas he was riding in an open top limo through the crowded streets of Galway. Neil Oliver meets a photographer who covered JFK's motorcade on one of his first assignments and hears how this junior pressman managed to get up close and personal with the president and talk him into the perfect snap.
Neil Oliver visits Ile de Sein, a tiny 'Island of Heroes' off the coast of Brittany. The island was honoured with a prestigious military award by President De Gaulle after virtually every man on the island took to their boats at the start of the Second World War to join De Gaulle in England and fight with the 'Free French' forces. The last survivors re-live the moving incident that motivated an entire island to go to war.
In a journey down England's east coast from Norfolk to London, Neil Oliver visits the birthplace of his seafaring hero Lord Nelson, finding the curious ship-shaped pond he dug at the family home while not fighting the French. Mark Horton is in the Thames Estuary to investigate the appeal of restoring classic working boats. He joins an Essex fishing smack crew on competition day to discover how the elegant yacht-like design of the smacks is perfectly adapted to dredging for oysters. Further offshore, former pirate DJ Tom Anderson revisits the sunken wreck of the Mi Amigo, home of the pirate station Radio Caroline.
Coast visits two iconic Scottish waterways: the Crinan and Caledonian Canals. Neil Oliver finds out how the Crinan Canal cut journey times for boats travelling up the West Coast of Scotland, while Nick Crane reveals how the majestic Loch Ness became a key part of Britain's biggest building project in the early 1800s, the Caledonian Canal. For nearly 20 years Highlanders desperate for work became navvies digging huge canals to link up the Lochs of the Great Glen fault. Eventually they created a 60 mile long waterway through the heart of Scotland connecting the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, but it was too little, too late.
At the Cornish fishing harbour of Newlyn, Nick Crane relives an astonishing, unsung feat of heroic British seamanship when, in 1854, a tiny fishing boat set sail from Newlyn to Melbourne. She was the smallest boat ever to attempt the journey, but the seven Cornishmen on board were prepared to risk their lives in the world's wildest seas to join the Australian Gold Rush. Nick Crane meets Cornish sailing legend Pete Goss aboard an exact replica of the boat that made such an incredible voyage. Tessa Dunlop persuades veteran sailors to reveal their own secret designs when she visits the naval harbour at Portsmouth to discover the hidden history of the tattoo. How did the Royal Navy expeditions of Captain Cook tap into a South Seas fashion statement that would eventually persuade the future King Edward VII to get his own tattoo in 1862? And why did the royals and high society later turn their back on body art? At Dunluce Castle, in Northern Ireland, Mark Horton joins an archaeological dig to unearth the remarkable remains of a town lost for over 150 years, but so well preserved it's been dubbed the 'Irish Pompeii'. How did the town come to die for the lack of a harbour? And why was it subsequently wiped from history? There's also a celebration of a classic piece of British eccentricity at Peasholm Park, in Scarborough, where, in a tradition going back more than 80 years, staff from Scarborough council delight holidaymakers in a thrilling recreation of naval warfare, going above and beyond the call of duty by taking to the boating pond concealed inside man-sized model warships, and boldly facing the torpedoes, shellfire and dive bombers of a hostile fleet. Coast is home! Series 7 Reversions Episode 3 of 10
A journey to the furthest-flung reaches of our isles to discover the most extreme locations, lifestyles and challenges of 'Life Beyond the Edge'. Series 7 Reversions Episode 1 of 10
Coast ventures to the farthest-flung reaches of the British Isles. Mark Horton reveals how Brunel's ship the Great Eastern conquered the Atlantic.
Nick Crane embarks on a journey around Britain to experience the surrounding seas' tidal ebb and flow, and to explore the Riddle of the Tides. Series 7 Reversions Episode 2 of 10
Nick Crane explores the wealth of wildlife and industry that are attracted to the Firth of Forth, the might estuary that feeds Edinburgh. Tessa Dunlop reveals how the Victorian zeal for cleanliness turned the Thames into a giant self-flushing toilet bowl. Mark Horton discovers the astonishing struggle to build a rail tunnel deep under the Severn estuary between England and Wales, a challenge that was finally accomplished in 1886.
The Coast team explores some of the most spectacular and scary sea cliffs in Britain. Series 8 Reversions Episode 6 of 24
Nick Crane looks at the remarkable history of Guernsey. He explores a German bunker that has been sealed since the end of the Second World War and also hears very different stories of the Nazi occupation from two survivors. Nick then examines how the islanders of Guernsey had previously turned the threat of invasion into a money-making opportunity during the Napoleonic Wars. Ruth Goodman reports on the Isle of Man TT, revealing how the small island came to host the most dangerous road race on earth. Coast Series 8 Reversions Episode 9 of 24
Coast is on a journey to celebrate the surprising stories of the workers from around our shores. How good is your parking? At the port on the Tyne, Nick joins a crack team of drivers on a race against time to precision park hundreds of new British-built cars aboard a huge purpose-built car transporter. Nick is pushed to the limit squeezing vehicles just millimetres apart for export around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff joins other volunteers in an exercise on dealing with sea-faring mammals which are washed up on our shores.
A journey around the coast of the United Kingdom. On the sea cliffs that surround Ramsey Island, Sarah Beynon hunts for dung beetles. She also finds 20th-century trash being revealed as a dump at Lyme Regis slides into the sea. Series 8 Reversions Episode 17 of 24
Coast reveals surprising stories of invasions around the British Isles.
Coast celebrates the stories of the workers from around our shores. Series 8 Reversions Episode 10 of 24
For centuries, Britons have charted a course to the glorious coast of Sweden for its treasure trove of riches. Now for the first time, Coast explores the British connections to this stunning shore on the edge of the Baltic Sea. Nick Crane's journey starts in one of the most picturesque parts of Sweden, the dramatic peaks of the High Coast are a wonder of the world and, remarkably, the mountains are still growing at the rate of one centimetre every year. Alice Roberts explores the extraordinary story of how, during the Second World War, Britain's military effort almost ground to a halt. Swedish ball bearings were desperately needed to keep tank and plane parts moving, but the Nazis had Sweden in an air-and-sea stranglehold. Alice reveals how brave British servicemen beat the German blockade. Dick Strawbridge climbs the rigging of one of the last great commercial sailing ships, known as the Windjammers.
Nick Crane visits an abandoned refrigeration plant whose workers kept Britain's biggest fishing fleet afloat. Tessa Dunlop reveals the untold story of the Royal Navy's sea power. Series 8 Reversions Episode 12 of 24
A group of sea anglers from Zimbabwe chance their hand in the rolling seas off the coast of Yorkshire. On their annual day trip from Whitby, they find themselves all at sea.
Coast journeys around the great estuaries of Britain where 20 million people live, and a dazzling variety of animals thrive. The team visits the most dynamic and dramatic of our waterways to discover surprising stories that emerge where rivers and seas collide. Series 8 Reversions Episode 8 of 24
The Coast team visit the most dynamic and dramatic of our waterways to discover surprising stories that emerge where rivers and seas collide. We find Britain's only colony of scorpions and discover why the sea is salty. Series 8 Reversions Episode 14 of 24
Nick Crane explores the wealth of wildlife attracted to the Firth of Forth. Tessa Dunlop reveals how the Victorian zeal for cleanliness turned the Thames into a giant toilet bowl. Series 8 Reversions Episode 18 of 24
On the Isle of Wight Nick Crane discovers a tunnel in the cliff. Sarah Beynon examines dung beetles in cow pats on Ramsey Island, and sees Chuffs feeding on them. Up in Yorkshire, Nick Crane examines the receding cliffs and sees a massive WWII defensive structure now lying on the beach.He visits Aldeburgh, which is under threat from the sea, where many houses have already been condemned due to sea erosion. At Lyme Regis Cassie Newland examines old rubbish revealed from the old dump. Series 8 Reversions Episode 16 of 24
Nick Crane joins sea fishermen who have constructed a remarkable ropeway and explores the ingenious water-powered mechanism that operates the Victorian cliff lift at Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Series 8 Reversions Episode 15 of 24
Coast is back in the UK, with each episode featuring stories from different parts of the British Isles, taking viewers on a 'journey of the imagination' which explores the universal themes that bind everyone together. The first of the series investigates just what it means to be an island people. Series 7 Reversions Episode 6 of 10
Nick Crane leads the team around Britain in a search for the secrets revealed by the tide. Series 7 Reversions Episode 7 of 10
A journey around the edge of the British Isles and beyond to see how shared seas unite Britain with its European neighbours. This episode begins in the historic heart of London and continues along the south coast of England and out across the Channel to explore the curious coast of Belgium. Nick Crane discovers why the world's biggest cargo ships are on course for London as he joins the struggle to construct a new mega-port as a gateway to the capital. Nick's voyage then takes a strange turn as he visits Belgium. He rides one of the longest tramways in the world, the Kusttram (or Coast Tram) which runs the entire length of Belgium's coastline. Nick also hunts down a forgotten masterpiece of surreal artist Rene Magritte, whose 'fish-headed woman' is just one of the extraordinary figures hidden away inside a grand casino on the Belgian coast. Alice Roberts uncovers the surprising story behind the rise and fall of the seaside landlady, formidable female pioneers who began businesses long before women had the vote. In Margate, Alice learns the secrets of being a successful landlady from women who together have over a hundred years' experience in ruling the roost. In the fabulously preserved medieval city of Bruges, Mark Horton unearths why our ancestors came there 700 years ago to rediscover the forgotten art of making bricks, skills that were lost to Britain for centuries after the Romans left these shores.
Coast travels right around the wonderful Welsh coast from the border with England in the south on the Severn estuary, to the northern English border on the Dee estuary. Nick Crane investigates the evidence that a devastating tsunami crashed on to the coast of Wales and England some 400 years ago. Villages were wiped off the map and thousands died, leaving the survivors to believe they had suffered the judgement of God; but was it a tidal wave that was to blame? Nick also discovers why scientists planning an expedition to the Red Planet find the Welsh coast a surprisingly good stand-in for the surface of Mars. And at the end of his journey Nick gains unique access to a remarkable passenger ship left stranded on the Welsh shore and virtually untouched since the 1980s. Alice Roberts attempts to get airborne with just helium balloons attached to her waist as she tests the claim that the world's first powered flight was actually made by a Welsh carpenter. Meanwhile, Miranda Krestovnikoff lands where few people ever tread - on Grassholm. It is an extraordinary island normally kept exclusively for the birds, and Miranda joins a scientific expedition trying to discover where the gannets of Grassholm disappear to in the winter. In 1947 two brothers were on holiday on Anglesey when one had a brainwave for a completely new kind of vehicle. There and then he sketched his rough notion in the sand - but this was an idea that would survive and endure. Dick Strawbridge explores how that coastal blueprint became the plan for the Land Rover. Plus Tessa Dunlop reveals how some 30 years ago an army of local volunteers managed to keep 3,000 Asians, who had been expelled from Uganda, warm and well-fed in an abandoned military base during a Welsh seaside winter.
Coast ventures out to the man-made shoreline of the Netherlands. Nick Crane explores how Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences following the great North Sea flood in 1953 which killed thousands of people in the Netherlands and Britain. Nick also discovers how, during the Second World War, traitors from the British Indian Army took part in the Nazi occupation of the tiny isle of Texel. This remote outpost in the far north of the Netherlands was later the unlikely site for the last battle in Europe of the Second World War. Nick investigates how the island fortress of Texel was torn apart by a fight between Soviet and Nazi soldiers in April 1945. Tessa Dunlop is on the trail of 'Tulipmania', the trade in tulip bulbs that's said to have nearly bankrupted the Dutch nation nearly 400 years ago. Tessa seeks the truth behind this tale of that still haunts today's traders. Mark Horton reveals the age-old skills that have made the Dutch the grand masters at creating new living space from the sea. Mark explores a 40-year plan to wall off the sea and drain away the water from an area bigger than Greater London. Adam Henson investigates why cows from the coastal plains of the northern Netherlands became the most sought after milk producers in the world, and one of the most familiar sights in the British countryside. Adam discovers how in the 19th century, when British farmers went shopping for Dutch cows, these 'two-tone' Friesian cattle would transform Britain's pastures into a sea of black and white. Miranda Krestovnikoff experiences how the Dutch delight in eating raw herring as a seaside snack, and explores a man-made island that's become a natural paradise of shifting sand and home to migrating birds in the most remote part of the Netherlands.
Coast ventures out to the astonishing man-made shoreline of the Netherlands. Nick Crane explores how ingenious Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences like no others on earth following the great North Sea flood in 1953 which killed thousands of people in the Netherlands and Britain. Nick also discovers how, during the Second World War, traitors from the British Indian Army took part in the Nazi occupation of the tiny isle of Texel. This remarkable remote outpost in the far north of the Netherlands was later the unlikely site for the last battle in Europe of the Second World War; Nick investigates how the island fortress of Texel was torn apart by a murderous fight to the death between Soviet and Nazi soldiers in April 1945. Coast newcomer, historian Tessa Dunlop, is on the trail of 'Tulipmania', the extraordinary trade in tulip bulbs that's said to have nearly bankrupted the Dutch nation nearly 400 years ago. Tessa seeks the truth behind this cautionary tale of 'Bloom and Bust' that still haunts today's traders. Mark Horton reveals the age old skills that have made the Dutch the Grand Masters at creating new living space from the sea. Mark explores the greatest land grab scheme of all, an audacious 40 year plan to wall off the sea and drain away the water from an area bigger than Greater London. Adam Henson, himself a farmer, investigates why cows from the coastal plains of the northern Netherlands became the most sought after milk producers in the world, and one of the most familiar sights in the British countryside. Adam discovers how in the 19th century, when British farmers went shopping for Dutch cows, these 'two-tone' Friesian cattle would transform Britain's green and pleasant pastures into a sea of black and white. Miranda Krestovnikoff experiences how the Dutch delight in devouring raw herring as a sea side snack. Miranda also explores a strange man-made island that's become a natural paradise of shifting sand and home to migratin
Coast embarks on an island-hopping adventure in Scotland, around the stunning Western Isles and out to the northern outpost of Shetland. Nick Crane visits the close-knit communities of the island of Eriskay, and on Lewis meets the leader of the Guga Hunters, a small band of men continuing a tradition of catching young gannets which perch precariously on sea cliffs. Neil Oliver explores the shipwreck of the Iolaire which went down on New Year's Eve 1918, costing the lives of over 200 returning First World War servicemen. On Staffa, Hermione Cockburn learns how a visit to Fingal's Cave inspired Felix Mendelssohn to compose his Hebrides Overture, while Miranda Krestovnikoff ventures to the tiny Isle of Noss to see the remains of a remarkable project to breed a super-strong Shetland pony.
On Eriskay, Nick Crane explores the unique nature of the island's close-knit communities, and on the Isle of Lewis he meets the leader of the 'guga hunters', a small band of men following the age-old tradition of catching guga, young gannets which perch precariously on the sea cliffs of a remote and rugged lump of rock far out in the wild Atlantic. Neil Oliver explores the tragic shipwreck of the Iolaire. On New Year's Eve 1918, over 200 servicemen returning home from the First World War drowned within sight of their homes on the Isle of Lewis as the Iolaire was torn apart in ferocious seas. The disaster is little known outside the Western Isles, but the community of Lewis still grieve in private nearly 100 years later. Neil seeks out the last witness, who shares her first-hand memories of the Iolaire tragedy, giving a unique personal insight into this rarely-told tale. Miranda Krestovnikoff travels north to Shetland to search for the shy otters which struggle to survive on this wild coast. Tessa Dunlop is on a deep-sea survey ship to see how the epic voyage of HMS Challenger, the greatest scientific expedition of the 19th century, first revealed the astonishing secrets of life in the depths of the world's oceans, a global quest that began with surprising discoveries of mysterious creatures deep in Scottish seas in the 1860s.
The team's journey continues around the stunning shores of Devon and Cornwall. Nick Crane is on a fishing expedition on board one of the last remaining Brixham trawlers - the beautiful sailing boats built in Devon over a hundred years ago that gave birth to fishing on an industrial scale. On his trip back in time aboard the Brixham boat, Nick discovers why the trawlermen of today have to work 17 times harder to land the same catch as their counterparts did around a hundred years ago. He also explores how Henry VIII, fearing attack after his famous divorce, built a string of cleverly positioned forts all along the south coast to keep countries loyal to the pope at bay. Testing his sea legs to the limit, Nick then embarks on one of the greatest voyages in British waters - an exhilarating ferry ride taking on the full force of the Atlantic out to the Isles of Scilly some 30 miles off Land's End. Dick Strawbridge learns the surprising secrets of the global steam power revolution pioneered in the tin mines of Cornwall some 200 years ago. Dick rides on the 'Puffing Devil', invented by brilliant Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick, a high-pressure steam engine on wheels that was the world's first passenger-pulling self-propelled vehicle. With the aid of some big wind machines, Alice Roberts creates her own 'perfect storm' inside a swimming pool to discover how wild weather far out in the ocean generates the rhythmic regular waves that travel a thousand miles to crash against our shores. Off the Cornish coast, Alice also ventures out into the pounding surf to get some expert tips on how to capture a big breaking wave on camera.
The team's journey continues around the stunning shores of Devon and Cornwall. Nick Crane is on a fishing expedition on board one of the last remaining Brixham trawlers - the beautiful sailing boats built in Devon over a century ago that gave birth to fishing on an industrial scale. On his trip back in time aboard the Brixham boat, Nick discovers why the trawlermen of today have to work 17 times harder to land the same catch as their counterparts did around 100 years ago. He also explores how Henry VIII, fearing attack after his famous divorce, built a string of cleverly positioned forts all along the south coast to keep countries loyal to the Pope at bay. Testing his sea legs to the limit, Nick then embarks on one of the greatest voyages in British waters - an exhilarating ferry ride taking on the full force of the Atlantic out to the Isles of Scilly some 30 miles off Land's End. The Isles of Scilly are surrounded by lush, golden green underwater meadows of seagrass. Miranda Krestovnikoff explores the diverse wildlife of this paradise as she snorkels with seals in the crystal clear waters of the Scillies. Mark Horton reveals the extraordinary story of how Lawrence of Arabia, hero of the First World War desert campaigns, went in secret to Plymouth, where he helped develop revolutionary fast rescue boats that saved countless lives. Dick Strawbridge learns the surprising secrets of the global steam power revolution pioneered in the tin mines of Cornwall some 200 years ago. Dick rides on the Puffing Devil, invented by brilliant Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick; this high-pressure steam engine on wheels was the world's first passenger pulling self-propelled vehicle. With the aid of some big wind machines, Alice Roberts creates her own perfect storm inside a swimming pool to discover how wild weather far out in the ocean generates the rhythmic regular waves that travel a thousand miles to crash against our shores. Off the Cornish coast, Alice also ve
Documentary series. Thanks to the toil of Welsh miners, who dug tunnels through solid rock to open up the beaches of Ilfracombe, wild swimmer Kate Rew is able to introduce a reluctant Neil Oliver to some of the more surprising joys of sea bathing Victorian style. On Exmoor's treacherous sea cliffs, Nick Crane is challenged to a sideways climb that was inspired by the conquest of Everest. He meets the men who set a record for this uniquely British endurance test, and finds out why, decades on, that feat has yet to be equalled. And we see how a mud horse fisherman collects his catch.
In Waterford, Alice Roberts learns how to make glass from sand. Neil Oliver also engages with an ancient skill, the extraction of entire millstones from Herrylock beach using the power of the sea. He later visits the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world at Hook Head.
Neil Oliver explores the lasting legacy of black American GIs who came to Britain to prepare for D-Day. Neil also performs the lead role in an extract from Shakespeare's The Tempest on the stage of a remarkable coastal amphitheatre near Land's End. He discovers how this unique theatre was built thanks to the obsession of one woman determined to stage the Bard's famous play in the open air next to the sea at her home in Cornwall.
Nick Crane explores the violent history of smuggling around the gorgeous Gower Peninsula, and abseils into an extraordinary stone structure concealed in the side of a sea cliff. Now only accessible by sea or by ropes, 200 years ago this was the perfect smugglers' stronghold, but Nick learns that it had an even more mysterious previous life - as a massive medieval bird house.
Coast ventures to the storm battered Atlantic shore of Ireland's majestic north west coast. Neil Oliver visits an Atlantic sea monitoring station off the coast of Galway. Further up the coast at Clifden, Dick Strawbridge leads a team of radio experts trying to recreate 100-year-old technology developed by Marconi, who sent the first commercial wireless messages across the Atlantic using steam generators powered by peat and an antenna over half a mile long.
In Northern Ireland, Ulsterman Dick Strawbridge uncovers the story of inventor Harry Ferguson, the first man to fly in Ireland. Further up the coast, Miranda Krestovnikoff sees how seals cope with the struggle to find food as they bring up their pups in the beautiful inland sea of Strangford Lough.
Kate Rew, an outdoor swimmer, explains why swimming along the coast is the perfect antidote to the stress of modern life. Neil Oliver explains how the Kent marshes were formed and how local frogs were thought to have been brought over from France in the 1930s, but are in truth Hungarian Marsh frogs. Miranda Krestovnikoff discovers how the Hastings fishermen cope without a harbour by launching their boats off the beach.
A look around the coast of the British Isles. Mark Horton visits Rottingdean to peek over Rudyard Kipling's garden wall and follow in the footsteps of the Victorian celebrity hunters, before unearthing the history of a unique Victorian electric railway which ran underwater - Magnus Volks' bizarre and beautiful 'Daddy Long-legs'.
Neil Oliver ventures out onto Worm's Head, a snake of land reaching out of the Gower Peninsula. Further up the coast he finds out about the quarrying heritage of Abereiddi and Porthgain. At Porth Oer Alice Roberts attempts to solve the riddle of the 'Singing Sands': what makes some very special British beaches whistle when you walk on them? Alice records the sounds of Porth Oer's beautiful beach to reveal its surprisingly musical secrets.
Mark Horton discovers how William the Conqueror taught the English the art of constructing castles, and why William looked to Normandy for the stone to build the Tower of London.
Victorian postcards reveal Rhyl's glory years to Hermione Cockburn, and on a visit to Blackpool's Pleasure Beach she discovers the secrets of success for our seaside towns. Plus Neil Oliver finds out about the people who manned Liverpool's famous dockyards.
