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1-83 of 83
- Our team heads off to France where 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.
- The team are off to Denmark and Neil Oliver wants to know shy they top the polls as the happiest people on earth. 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.
- 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.
- The team travels to Holland, and the astonishing man-made shoreline of the Netherlands. Nick Crane explores how Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences following the great North Sea floods in 1953, which killed thousands of people. 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. Historian Tessa Dunlop investigates how the tulip trade nearly bankrupted the country 400 years ago, and Mark Horton finds out about a project to reclaim an area of land bigger than Greater London from the sea.
- 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.
- 3,500 years ago, an international demand for Cornish tin put Cornwall at the centre of an international 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Nick Crane visits the Devon and Cornwall coastlines, joining 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. Miranda Krestovnikoff goes snorkelling in the Isles of Scilly, in the underwater seagrass meadows. Mark Horton recalls how Lawrence of Arabia helped develop rescue boats in Plymouth, Dick Strawbridge learns about the steam-power revolution pioneered in the tin mines of Cornwall, and Alice Roberts discovers how weather far out at sea generates waves that hit the UK's shoreline.
- The team explores British connections to the Swedish coast. Nick Crane views a mountain range still rising at the rate of one centimetre a year - and discovers a similar phenomenon is also occurring in the Highlands of Scotland. Alice Roberts reveals how merchant seamen from Hull helped save the Second World War military effort by sneaking a vital shipment of Swedish ball bearings past the German Navy. Mark Horton visits the wreck of the Vasa, a ship commissioned 400 years ago to spearhead the Swedish navy, only to sink on its maiden voyage. Dick Strawbridge climbs the rigging of one of the last great commercial sailing ships, known as the Windjammers. The team also explore Abba Island and search out moose in Sweden's frozen North.
- 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.
- This week, Nicholas attempts to brave the dangerous rapids off the coast of Anglesey, and learns about a tidal predictor in Liverpool. Miranda takes a look around Jersey's Seymour Tower to see the marine life revealed at low spring tide. Tessa compares the fashions in bathing suits favoured by different generation
- Neil Oliver learns why the Americans attacked the port of Whitehaven. He discovers the coast between Whitehaven and Southport in England. Including the Isle of Man, the meaning of their flag depicting a 3 legged man. The Isle of Man has the oldest Parliament in the world. Beautiful overhead photography, as in the whole series.
- One of the team members dives into a marine reserve at St.Abbs, they talk about saving the Forth Road Bridge and we hear about a wartime myth about training sea birds. All this as we explore this north east coast of the UK.
- Britain's last great wilderness, the stunning Cape Wrath, is the stomping ground for Nick Crane who discovers where wolves once trod and a hermit made his home. Ruth Goodman learns about the bizarre Victorian craze that drove women to extraordinary lengths collecting ferns on the perilous sea cliffs of Devon. Gem stone hunter Adam McIntosh finds an underwater path off the isle of Iona that leads to rare and beautiful 'Green Marble'. To learn the scientific secrets of fear used to design Blackpool's 'Big One' roller-coaster, Helen Arney rides this steel track of terror. Mark Horton reveals a coastal walk that takes in the whole history of Britain in just ten miles, on the little island of Lundy.
- 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 work-wear 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.
- On Holy Island, we find out how the Vikings 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.
- What becomes of our Coast in winter, its 'secret season', when we're at home? Nick Crane visits the storm capital of our shores, Cornwall, where he explores the worst lifeboat disaster of the last 60 years. Nick also discovers how wild winter seas bring surprising benefits to Cornish farmers growing cauliflowers and potatoes, and to the oyster fishermen of the Fal Estuary. Neil Oliver experiences the extraordinary Viking Fire Festival on Shetland our most northerly isles. Is their spectacular ritual of burning a Viking Longship as authentic as it appears? On the wild western Isles of St Kilda a feral flock of sheep untouched for thousands of years battle to the death as winter approaches, and Andy Torbet throws himself into the fray.
- 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?
- 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 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.
- On the French channel coast Nick Crane explores life on the incredible outcrop of Mont St Michel, home to monks living an elevated ecclesiastical life high in a hilltop monastery that attracts a million tourists a year. Nick also investigates the network of remarkable seaforts that kept the port of St Malo safe from raids by the Royal Navy. Mark Horton reveals how two centuries ago when the French mapped the exact distance across the Channel it led to the birth of Britain's Ordnance Survey and the maps we use today. Miranda Krestovnikoff is on patrol with the Royal Navy who police the fishing boats which compete in the Channel.
- Nick must master the controls of a massive crane as he lifts the lid on the frantic activity at the Mega-Port of Immingham. Built a century ago to export coal, now they import the fuel that keeps our lights burning. Tessa Dunlop uncovers an astonishing top-secret story of how Hitler's bombers could have flooded London and possibly won the war. Ruth Goodman investigates how one fearless Victorian woman took on the Government to prevent prostitutes being thrown into 'Lock Hospitals', a tale of the clandestine sex trade that scandalized Victorian Britain. Mark Horton reveals how Greenwich became the centre of global sea navigation, examining the competing madcap schemes to determine a ship's position at sea that were proposed by the world's best brains in the 18th century.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 journeys over the Atlantic to 'New Scotland', Novia Scotia, in Canada. Why did Scottish settlers flood offshore to Canada two hundred years ago, and how well did they succeed? Nick also discovers the rusting remains of the remarkable Transatlantic Telegraphic Cable, at the Canadian Cable station where he hears about the gossip Marilyn Monroe sent over the wires to our shores. Tessa Dunlop reveals the remarkable story of how in the Falkland's War the message to sink the cruiser 'General Belgrano' was sent 8000 mile to a submarine deep underwater. Miranda Krestovnikoff is seeking Britain's oldest Puffin to discover how seabirds manage to live up to 50 years old offshore. Nick Hewitt uncovers the history of the lurking leviathan that guards the entrance to the Solent, the Nab Tower.
- 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.
- Nick Crane signs on as a deck-hand with a tall ship. He hopes to fulfill 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. At Scapa Flow on Orkney, Neil Oliver explores the conspiracy theories surrounding the mysterious death of Lord Kitchener. 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. On the Isle of Wight Coast newcomer Andy Torbet finds himself scaling slippery new heights on the Needles. 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.
- Nicholas looks for leeches in the pebble-pools of Dungeness and finds out how the area was first formed. Hermione takes is in the air to view sand art in Jersey. Andy Torbet takes a look around one of the country's most dangerous beaches. Tessa is at a steelworks built on the shore of Port Talbot.
- 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.
- Nick Crane visits a project to build a new seaport for London, before travelling across the channel to Belgium, where he takes a ride on a tram that runs along the country's coastline. Alice Roberts learns how to be a seaside landlady in Margate, and Neil Oliver tells the story of British forces' efforts to stop Hitler's biggest battleships reaching the coast of Kent during the Second World War. Back in Belgium, Mark Horton reveals the city of Bruges's role in the history of brick-making, and Miranda Krestovnikoff goes shrimp-fishing on horseback.
- Nick Crane tells the astonishing tale of the Great Storm of 1703. The Great Storm of 1703 was one of the most severe storms or natural disasters ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain. The storm came in from the southwest on 26 November 1703 (Julian calendar) or 7 December 1703 in the current calendar. Observers at the time recorded barometric readings as low as 973 millibars (measured by William Derham in south Essex), but it has been suggested that the storm may have deepened to 950 millibars over the Midlands.
- 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 team discovers untold tales of Explorers around our shores, and far beyond, going down-under to Australia. In Cornwall Nick Crane takes to the water in a recreation of Britain's oldest known boat, a remarkable paddle-powered design from the Bronze Age. Nick goes on to tell the story of the fabled Explorer 'Pytheas The Greek' who first mapped our isles. He also follows the most remarkable artistic exploration of Britain's coast that produced hundreds of stunning full-colour illustrations in the age before photography. Mark Horton reveals how a man born on a tiny Scottish Isle went onto found the country of Australia two centuries ago. Tessa Dunlop investigates the Pilgrims' Fathers' hidden history. Why did the Pilgrims go to live in Holland for ten years before they founded modern America? Andy Torbet joins modern day scientific Explorers trying to count how many fish there are in our seas.
- 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. 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. 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. 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, the transatlantic cable. Mark and the team rebuild the ingenious invention which, in 1865, finally made the transatlantic cable a glorious reality after ten years of tragic failure. And, on the dramatic rocky edge of St David's Head in South Wales, Hermione Cockburn explores the very limits of life on the planet to reveal the astonishing fossil of a large sea creature - one which lived 300 million years before the dinosaurs.
- 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.
- The team goes island-hopping around the Western Isles and out to Shetland. On Eriskay, Nick meets up with a family of dolphins, hunts for gannets with the Guga hunters of Lewis. Neil Oliver hears the tragic story of a 1918 shipwreck off the Isle of Lewis in which more than 200 servicemen returning from the First World War were drowned. Hermione Cockburn tests the acoustic qualities of Fingal's Cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, and Miranda Krestovnikoff investigates a project to breed a super-strong Shetland pony. 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.
- The team explores the Welsh coast from the Severn estuary to the Dee estuary. Nick Crane investigates evidence that a devastating tsunami hit 400 years ago, and finds out why scientists planning a trip to Mars find the local landscape a surprisingly good stand-in for the red planet's surface. Alice Roberts tests the claim that the world's first powered flight was made by a Welsh carpenter seven years before the Wright brothers and Dick Strawbridge reveals how, in 1947, a man on holiday to Anglesey came up with the design for a new car that would conquer the world - the Land Rover. Miranda Krestovnikoff lands where few people ever tread - on Grassholm; an extraordinary island normally kept exclusively for the birds.
- 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 finds out why the seaside is good for you. The desire to escape the daily grind and go on holiday is something we all crave - but is there more to it than meets the eye?
- This is several stories from the Romans to Dublin Bay Prawns in and around this small sea and it's many currents that have shaped Ireland and Britain.
- The team examine why humans are driven to defy the elements and battle with perilous seas. Contending with extremes of nature makes for thrilling stories and sights and we see here the many ways to work with and overcome the challenge of spirited waters.
- The team explores some of the incredible riches within the seas and the surprising stories of how people use them. Nick Crane heads offshore to the Faroe Islands an archipelago known as nature s larder where he gathers all manner of bounty for a traditional feast. Mark Horton is in Denmark finding out why Stone Age man preferred to fish at night Hermione Cockburn delves into the microscopic world of plankton that fascinated the Victorians and Tessa Dunlop hears about a man who turned seaweed into a balsa wood replacement destined for use in the Mosquito bomber during the Second World War.
- Nick Crane follows the Welsh coast path around Anglesey presenting tales of inspired thinking and coastal ingenuity. Tess Dunlop reveals how a small French fishing village gave rise to the birth of British commercial radio in the 1930s Brendan Walker investigates why the 1970 collapse of Pembrokeshire s Cleddau Bridge changed the engineering world for ever Dick Strawbridge is in Portsmouth where he tells of a novel First World War plan to disguise British ships by hiding them in plain sight.
- 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.
- An 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.
- 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.