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 crew member’s first shout can still be a leap into the unknown.\n\nFor sheep farmer Emma, based in St Davids on the Pembrokeshire coast, her first rescue is a real test of character - a rock climber who’s fallen into the water and is within seconds of falling unconscious. In Minehead, three kayakers are swept out to sea as darkness falls, and when only one makes it back to raise the alarm, young crew member Matt faces his first ever shout at night - an increasingly desperate search in complete darkness.\n\nIt’s not just rookie crew members who face a baptism of fire - in Peterhead, after years on the crew, Patrick’s first shout as coxswain is to try to rescue a 170-ton fishing boat that’s lost all power and is perilously close to the rocks in gale force winds and heavy seas.
Source: 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 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 ...
14-11-2024
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 6 (shortened Versions): 1. 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 ...
28-10-2024
BBC 2
Series 5: Episode 10
When the pagers sound, sending lifeboats into the waters of the UK and Ireland, the crews on board rely on both their training and experience to bring casualties home safely to ...
15-08-2024
BBC 2
Series 5: Episode 5
Week in, week out, across the UK and Ireland volunteers give up their weekends and evenings to learn life-saving techniques ready for when they need to put their skills into use ...
29-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 7: 5. Learning On The Job
The vast majority of the RNLI’s volunteer crew members don’t come from a professional maritime background - so every day is a school day.\n\nIn Eastbourne, new recru ...
16-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 7: 4. Pressure
On Ireland’s north west coast, the crew at Bundoran race to the rescue of a teenage girl who has been swept out to sea by a rip current. In Portishead, north Somerset, a m ...
09-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 9: 6. Trust
Every one of the RNLI’s crew members brings their own unique skills to the station at which they volunteer. But they’re all united by one key element: trust.\n\nIn H ...
09-05-2024
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 4: Episode 1
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 ...
05-04-2022
BBC 2
Saving Lives At Sea Ser 2 Cutdowns: 1. Saving Lives At Sea
Documentary series following the men and women of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). \n\nIn south west Wales, the Tenby crew race to a kayaker with suspected back a ...
20-05-2021
BBC 2
Series 7: 8. Commitment
In Thurso, Scotland’s most northerly mainland station, the crew race to the rescue of an ocean-going rower who has run into trouble 40 miles out to sea. In Dungeness, on t ...
06-07-2024
BBC 2
Series 9: 5. Caught Out
Although the crews of the RNLI know the perils around their coasts, many seaside visitors already need rescuing by the time they become apparent.\n\nIn Queensferry, an American ...
02-05-2024
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 4 (shortened Versions): Episode 6
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 programme tells the story of the ordinary ...
20-03-2023
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 9: 7. Knife Edge
In the 200 years since the RNLI was founded, its crews have saved the lives of over 146,000 people. But even with all that experience behind them, shouts often balance on a knif ...
16-05-2024
BBC 2