Coast

Dr Alice Roberts investigates how greed led to a village being washed into the sea; Nick unearths the history of slavery in Plymouth; while Neil and Mark try to wreck a ship with nothing but a candle; and Miranda comes face to face with a shark!

Neil discovers the story of a Welsh Atlantis lost beneath the waves; Miranda goes in search of leatherback turtles; whilst Alice descends into the caves of Great Orme and Nick canoes in the treacherous Menai Straits, to examine the bridges across to Anglesey.

Nick investigates how the building of the Antrim Coast mirrors the troubled history of the province; Neil uses computer imagery to rebuild the Titanic; Alice heads to the Giants Causeway and Mark explores the wreck of a Spanish Armada treasure ship.

Nick takes part in a NATO exercise at the Cape Wrath bombing range; Neil meets the descendants of the people displaced by the Highland Clearances; and the survivors of the worst loss of British Naval life in Scapa Flow; whilst Alice visits the Dounreay reactor.

Nick explores the holy island of Lindisfarne; Alice helps rebuild Britains first house in Howick; whilst Neil examines the tensions in South Shields that led to race riots in the 1930s and Miranda gets up close and personal with grey seals.

Nick investigates the freak floods of 1953; Alice explores the landbridge which joined us to the continent; whilst Nick meets Peter Boggis, a man trying to save his home from the sea; and Neil celebrates Trafalgar 200 examining an eye witness account of the battle.

Neil Oliver explores an inaccessible cave inlaid with beautiful stonework - who was the mystery builder? Nick shows us how to read the history of your local beach and Alice traces the story of a foreign boy washed up on the Welsh shore and how he changed the history of medicine.

Neil Oliver discovers the network of cables under a Porthcurno beach which wrap around the world in a tale of invention, espionage and surprise. Mark Horton visits the Isles of Scilly to meet the two football teams battling it out in Britains smallest league and Alice Roberts paints up a storm in St Ives.

The concrete and steel of the North East coast conceal a remarkable history of religious passion that transformed Britain and touched every corner of the world. Neil Oliver explores this ancient coastal landscape and also reveals its contribution to the abolition of the slave trade.

Alice Roberts savours the sea salt at Maldon, Miranda Krestovnikoff goes trawling on the Thames and we discover how the houses of Parliament can claim to be on the coast. We end the series with a remarkable cricket match miles out to sea on the eerie tidal landscape at Goodwin Sands.

Neil explores why Sandbanks in Poole Harbour has some of the worlds most expensive houses. Alice builds her own coastal property as she investigates the perfect sandcastle. Dick joins an American serviceman on an emotional journey, as he returns to the beach where he was given up for dead during World War Two.

Neil discovers how a beach became the fastest place on earth 80 years ago. Mark explores how Swanseas monopoly of the copper trade sped Nelson towards his Trafalgar victory. Miranda joins dolphins at the coast raising their young and Alice boards a dredger to discover how much sand we are consuming.

Neil discovers how mysterious flotsam inspired Columbus journey to America. Alice explores the botanical puzzle of "The Burren" - where Arctic plants grow next to Mediterranean flowers. Miranda reveals the surprising secrets of seaweed that make it the special ingredient in everything from toothpaste to beer.

Neil investigates the tragic story of the first channel swimmer. Alice explores Jerseys remarkable post war transformation from Nazi stronghold to Honeymoon Island. Miranda enters secret caves and Mark reveals why the islanders on Guernsey remain loyal to the Queen, despite being outside the United Kingdom.

The teams journey continues around the stunning shores of Devon and Cornwall. Nick Crane is on a fishing expedition on board one of the last remaining Brixham trawlers. He also explores how Henry VIII, fearing attack after his famous divorce, built a string of cleverly positioned forts all along the south coast. The Isles of Scilly are surrounded by lush, golden green underwater meadows of seagrass; Miranda Krestovnikoff explores the diverse wildlife of this natural sub-sea paradise. Mark Horton reveals the extraordinary story of how Lawrence of Arabia went to Plymouth, where he helped develop revolutionary fast rescue boats that saved countless lives in the Second World War. Dick Strawbridge learns the surprising secrets of the global steam power revolution pioneered in the tin mines of Cornwall some 200 years ago. And with the aid of some big wind machines, Alice Roberts creates her own perfect storm.

Coast embarks on an island-hopping adventure in Scotland around the stunning Western Isles and out to the northern outpost of Shetland. On Eriskay, Nick has a close encounter with a family of dolphins and he is invited to a golden wedding anniversary where the whole island gather to party. On the Isle of Lewis, Nick meets the leader of the Guga Hunters, a small band of men following the age-old tradition of catching young gannets. Neil Oliver explores the tragic shipwreck of the Iolaire. On New Years Eve 1918, over 200 servicemen returning home from the First World War, drowned within sight of their homes on the Isle of Lewis as the Iolaire was torn apart in ferocious seas. Hermione Cockburn is on an expedition to Staffa. Armed with an acoustics expert, a violinist, and a starting pistol, she conducts a curious experiment to explore the remarkable musical quality of Fingals Cave. Miranda Krestovnikoff is on Shetland to search for the shy otters who struggle to survive on this wild coast. Tessa Dunlop is on a deep-sea survey ship to see how the epic voyage of HMS Challenger first revealed the astonishing secrets of life in the depths of the worlds oceans.

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 Cranes journey starts in one of the most picturesque parts of Sweden, the dramatic peaks of the High Coast are a wonder of the world and, remarkably, the mountains are still growing at the rate of one centimetre every year. Nick also finds out why Britains early engineers had to come to Sweden for iron to help forge our Industrial Revolution. Alice Roberts explores the extraordinary story of how, during the Second World War, Britains military effort almost ground to a halt without Swedish ball bearings and how brave British servicemen beat the German blockade of the country. Mark Horton visits the worlds most remarkable shipwreck, The Vasa, which has been called the Tutankhamun of maritime archaeology. Dick Strawbridge climbs the rigging of one of the last great commercial sailing ships, known as the Windjammers. As recently as the 1940s these tall ships managed to give steamships a run for their money. Dick discovers how in the days of Empire, the Windjammers connected Britain to Australia with their legendary grain races. The team also explore Abba Island and search out moose in Swedens frozen North.

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 Lands End, these are Englands final full stop. On magical isles with a Caribbean feel, Nick joins the locals to attempt one of the most bizarre walks in Britain, as they try to wade on foot through the surging seas from island to island. Its a challenge only possible at exceptionally low-tide, yet still the seawater threatens to swamp them. To discover what life is like on this extreme edge, Nick visits the last house on the very tip of the most westerly inhabited isle. He pushes beyond the edges of Britains history too, walking back in time to the bronze age, as the seabed reveals evidence of an ancient settlement, long submerged beneath the waves. Is this the site of the legendary Lost Kingdom of Lyonesse, said to be the last resting place of King Arthur? On precipitous slopes, beyond the edge of Devon, Coast newcomer and social historian Ruth Goodman follows in the footsteps of the remarkable Branscombe cliff farmers, who for generations followed a hardy way of life thats now gone with the sea breeze. Ruth relives a day in the ceaseless toil of the last man left on these perilous cliffs, the aptly named Cliffie Gosling, who together with his trusty donkeys made the steep ascent between land and sea daily until the 1960s. Mark Horton explores the cutting edge of Victorian information technology in a celebration of one of Britains most audacious engineering achievements. The titanic struggle to create the transatlantic telegraph service between Britain and America would eventually herald the birth of global communications, but how did Brunels mighty ship, the Great Eastern, manage to lay a cable 2,000 miles along the seabed to transmit and receive tiny electric signals between continents? Mark and the team rebuild 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 Davids 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. This discovery helped establish that Britain and America were once part of the same super-continent, and that the Earth is old enough for Darwins theory of evolution - once held to be on the margins of science - to become central to our understanding of who we are.

Nick Crane tells the astonishing tale of the Great Storm of 1703.

Coast explores the glorious diversity and delights offered by our beaches.