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Private Notes
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 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.
Nicholas Crane explores the coast of south Wales.
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.
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 Dover, Alice Roberts re-lives the glamour days of the hovercraft crossing to France.
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.
The team visit the limestone headland of the Great Orme in Llandudno, north Wales.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Miranda Krestovnikoff discovers how lobster stocks are being sustained by the local fishing industry in Padstow, Cornwall.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
Nicholas Crane and a team of experts visit the Blackwater Estuary in Essex.
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.
Neil Oliver travels the coast of the island of Arran
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.
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.
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.
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.
Miranda Krestovnikoff meets the puffins of the Shiant Isles.
Series exploring Britain's coastline. Neil Oliver visits Britain's largest container port.
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'.
Coast breaks new ground with a spectacular journey following the southern shoreline of Ireland, from the Old Head of Kinsale to Ardmore.
Nicholas Crane visits Bamburgh in Northumberland, whose castle sits on a basalt crag.
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.
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.
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.
Miranda Krestovnikoff discovers how lobster stocks are being sustained by the local fishing industry in Padstow, Cornwall.
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 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.
Uncovering coastal stories that have helped shape the island nation Britain is today.
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.
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 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.
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.
The team journey around the breathtaking shoreline of East Anglia.
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.
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.
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.
Dick Strawbridge looks at World War II's secret and disastrous Operation Tiger.
Neil Oliver visits a prehistoric fort on the island of Aran.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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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.
Neil Oliver searches for sea eagles, recently reintroduced to the island of Canna. Kate Rew hunts for the marvellously titled bone-eating snot flower.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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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.
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?
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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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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
