Season 1

After snow blankets the airfield, workers must battle winter conditions to turn around a gigantic 747-400 cargo plane in just two hours. Stunning CGI animation explores how seven ingenious inventions will help the airport get the plane back in the air on time. A unique laser-guided docking system helps the pilot park correctly, hydraulic lifting machines haul tonnes of cargo in and out of the hold, a truck with nozzle-loaded boom arms sweeps the runway to melt ice and a radar system gives the air traffic controllers an extra set of eyes to avert disaster. With the weather against them, today, more than ever, the workers of Stansted will depend on these inventions to help them avoid a COUNTDOWN TO COLLISION.

This film follows a crack team of port workers as they turn around one of the world’s largest container ships, the Cosco Glory, in just 35 hours. Stunning CGI animation explores how seven key engineering inventions prevent this colossal operation from hitting the rocks. The pilot taps into a hi-tech ship-tracking system to avoid a collision with a tanker in the narrow entrance channel, a tugboat captain wrestles the Glory into dock with a revolutionary three-propeller design of tugboat, robotic cranes and trucks use hi-tech guidance systems to shift 60,000 tons of cargo and the port’s fire brigade set fire to a container to test a high-power water jet that can pierce metal walls to dowse the flames. But will these modern devices do what’s needed to get the Cosco Glory back to sea and avert a COUNTDOWN TO COLLISION.

At 472 meters it’s taller than the Empire State Building and is the biggest structure ever moved across the surface of the earth. This film reveals a snapshot in the life of the platform. As an arctic weather system hits Western Europe, Troll must double its gas supply in just 34 hours. We follow the crew as they tackle seven critical challenges using seven ingenious inventions to meet their deadline. We reveal the extraordinary risks they face and the amazing engineering advances that make it possible to pump vast quantities of gas from a reservoir 1400 metres under the North Sea to homes thousands of kilometers away. The film explores the remarkable legs of the platform, the engineering inventions that safeguard against explosions, the groundbreaking technology that prevents fatal collisions and the revolutionary lifeboats. Each of the seven ingenious inventions will ensure Countdown to Collision….averted.

In Sao Paulo, 19 million inhabitants rely on the dam for 40% of their electricity. This film follows Itaipu’s team of specialist workers on a day when a football match in the world’s third-largest city threatens to put a massive surge on the grid. As workers drive the dam’s generators up to maximum power to meet the demand, we reveal the key inventions that keep Itaipu running. Stunning CGI animation explores how six key engineering inventions prevent catastrophic failures. From seepage traps that halt erosion inside the dam wall, movement sensors that detect minute but deadly vibrations and super-sized grilles that stop debris jamming the turbine wheels. But will these engineering wonders come through for the workers of Itaipu, to prevent a COUNTDOWN TO COLLISION?

Producing 4 million dollars of gold a day, it’s one of the biggest gold operations in the world. This film will follow the miners over the course of a week as they blast, crush and process the rock in one of the hottest places on the planet. To meet their target they must overcome a series of critical challenges, using super-sized machinery and ingenious engineering. Beneath the pit, there are 3,500 kilometres of old mine shafts that could give way at any time. We reveal the technology that enables them to shift 150,000 tonnes of rock a day in this dangerous environment: how massive explosions are controlled to prevent flying rocks, how eye-scanning lasers spot tired truck drivers, and how they extract the precious gold from the rock. One by one, we uncover the ingenious inventions that ensure super pit can avert… a COUNTDOWN TO COLLISION.

This vessel is an icebreaking oil tanker – and her crew of 25 have just five days to collect 70,000 tonnes of Russian Crude oil from a one-of-a-kind oil platform in the Barents Sea. But, between their starting point of Murmansk and their end goal lies 1000km of Arctic Ocean and kilometers of ship-destroying ice. Stunning CGI animations reveal the inventions that assist the ship’s crew in reaching the terminal and returning laden with oil. A unique epoxy skin enables the ship to slide through thick ice, her tanks are fitted with an inert gas system that prevents oil vapours from exploding, an ice radar assits the crew in navigating around deadly ice ridges and a $1million valve connects the ship to the platform – allowing a fire engine tank’s worth of oil to pass from the platform every second. In the isolated, ice-covered oceans of the Arctic, will these innovations help the crew of the Timofey Guzhenko accomplish their mission on time and avert a catastrophic COUNTDOWN TO COLLISION?

very weekday morning a million commuters pour into the Sao Paulo metro, the world’s most crowded subway. This film follows the hard-pressed team of metro workers as they race against the clock to get everyone to work on time. Stunning CGI animation reveals how six key engineering inventions prevent this massive operation grinding to a halt. Overnight, a crack maintenance crew scans the track for faults using a technology more commonly used to scan pregnant women; as the trains start running, ingenious radio signalling replaces drivers, and squeezes more trains onto the track; at overcrowded stations, intelligent platform doors prevent crowd surges pushing people onto the rails; and to prevent a deadly fire, technicians fill a subway station with smoke to test Sao Paulo metro’s revolutionary smoke extractors. But will these modern devices do what’s needed to get a million commuters to work on time and enable the metro workers to beat the COUNTDOWN.

The world’s longest cargo train runs from the Carajás mine in Northern Brazil across 900 kilometres of remote forest and grassland to the port of São Luís. It carries iron ore destined for China. This documentary follows the dynamic team of railway workers as they race against the clock to get the three kilometre-long train to the port on time. Dazzling CGI animation shows how six key engineering inventions prevent this colossal operation coming off the rails. At a giant silo, the load-out workers use an ingenious weighing system to load the ore into the train’s 330 wagons; once underway, the driver uses radio signals to harness the power of four locomotives spread along the train; to climb the railway’s steepest hill, the heavy train needs a push from a laser-guided locomotive; and to unload its 30,000 tonnes of ore, a rotary dumper must turn the whole train upside down.