The seas and lakes of the UK and Ireland can catch out even the most experienced seafarers and, more often than not, it is the RNLI volunteers who pick up the pieces. \n\nIn Essex, the crew at Walton and Frinton get an unusual mayday call to a ship called HMS Pickle. Arriving on scene, they discover it is not the modern naval vessel they were expecting but a replica of a ship that once served in Nelson’s fleet, and though the original survived the battle of Trafalgar, this one is shipping water and sinking fast. \n\nOn the east coast of Scotland, the crew at Anstruther face a tricky rescue trying to extract a walker with a badly broken leg from a remote coastal path. And in the Shannon basin in Ireland, the crew at one of the RNLI’s few inland stations at Lough Derg are woken in the early hours of the morning by their pagers - cries for help have been heard coming from the 40-mile-long lake. After launching into inky darkness and thick fog, the crew make an eerie discovery.
Source: BBC 2
Series 5 (shortened Versions): Episode 8
During one of the worst storms in living memory, on the south coast of England the crew of Hastings lifeboat receive an emergency call. A surfer, hoping to make the most of the ...
22-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 6 (shortened Versions): Episode 6
There are now over 600 women who are active lifeboat crew, a number which has doubled in the last ten years. In Calshot, Kelley volunteered for the crew 18 months ago, despite n ...
12-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 6 (shortened Versions): Episode 5
Each year the volunteer crews of the RNLI respond to around 9,000 call outs, from paddleboarders swept out to sea to sinking fishing boats, from families caught in rip currents ...
29-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 6 (shortened Versions): Episode 10
Last year, the lifeboats around the UK and Ireland came to the aid of over 8,300 people. But no matter what they face when they head out on a shout, all crew members are instill ...
22-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 6 (shortened Versions): 2. Saving Lives At Sea
Each year the volunteer crews of the RNLI respond to around 9,000 call outs, from paddleboarders swept out to sea to sinking fishing boats, from families caught in rip currents ...
20-03-2025
BBC 2
Series 5 (shortened Versions): Episode 9
Last year, the lifeboat crews and lifeguards around the UK and Ireland raced to the aid of over 9,400 people, but all the volunteers know that, when the pager goes off, not ever ...
09-02-2025
BBC 2
Series 8: 4. Facing The Fear
Every time any of the 400 lifeboats across the UK and Ireland are called out on a shout, the crews on board must manage a whole range of emotions - and face their fears.\n\nIn n ...
17-12-2024
BBC 2
Series 8: 6. Family
For all crews, the support network extends far beyond the staff and volunteers themselves: they need their family behind them at all times.\n\nIn Torbay, Devon, a yacht has sent ...
11-12-2024
BBC 2
Series 5 (shortened Versions): Episode 6
Every day around the UK and Ireland, an unpaid army of men and women, from artists to undertakers and from priests to poets, are ready to put their lives on the line to save tho ...
20-11-2024
BBC 2
Series 5 (shortened Versions): Episode 7
Of the almost 9,000 emergencies the RNLI’s lifeboats launch to every year, just seven per cent are to commercial vessels. The vast majority of their shouts are to those us ...
30-10-2024
BBC 2
Series 3: Episode 7
Every day in the seas around the UK and Ireland, an army of unpaid volunteers put their lives on the line to save those of others. This series tells the story of the ordinary me ...
14-12-2022
BBC 2
Series 5: Episode 6
The thousands of lifeboat volunteers across the UK and Ireland are willing to put their lives on the line to rescue those in danger at a moment’s notice. Once they have la ...
10-04-2022
BBC 2
Series 6 (shortened Versions): Episode 6
There are now over 600 women who are active lifeboat crew, a number which has doubled in the last ten years. In Calshot, Kelley volunteered for the crew 18 months ago, despite n ...
12-04-2025
BBC 2
Series 7: 10. Battling The Conditions
In Baltimore, south west Ireland, the crew are called out to reports of an upturned catamaran over 70 miles out to sea. In Newhaven, on the Sussex coast, a grounded yacht in rol ...
15-11-2022
BBC 2
Series 9: 2. 999
Of the 9,000 shouts the lifeboat crews respond to each year, the vast majority start - as most emergencies do - with a 999 call.\n\nIn Dungeness, the crew are called out to repo ...
11-04-2024
BBC 2
Series 6 (shortened Versions): Episode 5
Each year the volunteer crews of the RNLI respond to around 9,000 call outs, from paddleboarders swept out to sea to sinking fishing boats, from families caught in rip currents ...
29-03-2025
BBC 2
Episode 06-03-2022
Every day in the seas around the UK and Ireland, an army of unpaid volunteers put their lives on the line to save those of others. This series tells the story of the ordinary me ...
06-03-2022
BBC 2
Series 6: Episode 3
Every lifeboat volunteer undergoes hundreds of hours of training to get them up to the level of expertise needed to join a crew. But even with the best instruction available, a ...
04-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 4 (shortened Versions): Episode 3
Every day in the seas around the UK and Ireland, an army of unpaid volunteers put their lives on the line to save those of others. Saving Lives At Sea tells the story of the ord ...
02-03-2022
BBC 2
Series 9: 8. Pressure
Whenever their pagers sound, the volunteers of the RNLI immediately find themselves under pressure.\n\nIn Port Isaac, on the north coast of Cornwall, the crew race to the rescue ...
23-05-2024
BBC 2