Traditionally the South coast of England is where we've fought our battles, and defended ourselves. A hop, skip and a jump away from the continent, divided only by the narrow stretch of the English Channel. It is Britain's front line.

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

South Wales has the second highest tidal range in the world. It is the tidal surge that creates the Severn Bore: Nick follows the wave upstream; whilst Neil explores the history of Cardiff coal; and Alice gets acquainted with the Red Lady of Paviland.

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

Alice discovers 5,000 year old footprints on the beach; whilst Nick investigates our worst lifeboat disaster; Mark is on the track of the Roman conquest of Northern Europe in Maryport and Neil ventures onto the treacherous sands of Morecambe Bay.

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

Neil joins the crew of the trident submarine HMS Vanguard; Miranda goes hunting for Minke whales; whilst Mark and Neil recreate the inter island rocket mail service; and Nick sails the beautiful Western Isles armed only with a 500 year guide book.

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

Miranda heads to the Moray Firth, home to bottle nosed dolphins; Nick investigates the impact of the North Sea oil industry; whilst Neil meets a fishing family in Fraserburgh, facing a bleak future; and Alice reflects on the history of whaling in Dundee.

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

Nick retraces the steps of smugglers in Robin Hoods Bay; Neil goes to the first Butlins Holiday camp in Skegness; whilst Mark sets sail in a recreated bronze age boat; and Alice recreates alum crystals using stale urine!

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

The final programme examines coastal issues highlighted in earlier episodes: sea level rise and erosion; the health of our seas and wildlife, power generation; and access to our coast; as well as development.

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The beautiful cliffs of Dover are a breathtaking sight. On this stretch of the coastline chalk has not only defined and shaped the landscape but has also been the starting point of many innovators and their pioneering work. Our guide Neil Oliver takes over from Nicholas Crane this series, and guides us along this journey of beautiful scenery and remarkable discoveries.

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

Why did Alfred Nobel, founder of the famous prizes, pick the South West of Scotland as the ideal site for the world's biggest explosives factory? Nicholas Crane discovers the remarkable use for the island of Ailsa Craig's beautiful granite.

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

Discover why Dublin is the greatest coastal city, join Mark Horton as he goes in search of the wreck of the SS Great Britain and Miranda Krestovnikoff spends a day at the races. Alice Roberts visits a remarkable house designed to see the sea from every room.

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

At the outermost edge of the British Isles, we discover the struggle to survive in this harsh but stunningly beautiful myriad of islands big and small. Crystal clear water and powder white beaches conceal a history of human tragedy and joy.

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

In this first episode the team embark on an extraordinary circular tour of the Irish Sea to visit every country and territory within the United Kingdom. The hub for this wheel around the heart of the British Isles is the Isle of Man where Neil Oliver explores the small island. On the edge of the Irish Sea at Morecambe Bay, Alice Roberts gets trapped in quicksand to discover why it is so sticky and so deadly. In Northern Ireland, Miranda Krestovnikoff sees how seals cope with the struggle to find food as they bring up pups in the beautiful inland sea of Strangford Lough. Nick Crane goes sea cliff climbing on the remarkable rocks of Anglesey as he explores why this corner of North Wales is the site of some of Britain's biggest earthquakes.

Neil Oliver performs the lead role in an extract from Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" on the stage of a remarkable coastal amphitheatre near Land's End. Nick Crane ventures out into the infamous "Portland Tidal Race" to see how this fearsome tidal surge creates some of the roughest waters in Britain, surprisingly close to the tourist beaches and Georgian splendour of Weymouth. Miranda Krestovnikoff goes in search of a family of White-Beaked Dolphins and Alice Roberts follows her nose to discover what gives the sea its distinctive smell. In Devonport, Mark Horton has privileged access to the historic dockyards to see where the wooden ships of Nelson’s Navy were built. Mark reveals how the steel fleet of the modern Royal Navy still relies on the age old skills of wood working.

Neil Oliver explores the province of Finistère, "The End of the Earth", and meets a lighthouse keeper made famous by one of the world's most reproduced photographs. Nick Crane joins the "Onion Johnnies", who gave us our stereotypical image of a Frenchman, complete with stripy tee shirt, beret and bicycle laden with onions. Alice Roberts reveals the life saving chemical element that's locked away inside seaweed and Miranda Krestovnikoff dives for a seafood delicacy. At Carnac, Mark Horton wanders amongst the mysterious lines of standing stones, erected thousands of years before Stonehenge, to investigate their age old connection with Britain.