Series 6: 2011
The sixth series of Coast was originally aired on BBC2 during the summer of 2011. It was simulcast on BBC HD. The series visits Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden (all for the first time) exploring how these countries are linked to our own via the sea. The series does not follow a circular course, beginning in London and ending in Sweden.
As with the previous two series', the name Coast and Beyond is retained - helping to signify that the journey takes in coastlines outside the British Isles.
| Series No. |
Episode No. |
Title | Directed by | Written by | UK Ratings (BBC2 Rank) |
Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1 | "London to Antwerp" | David Symonds | n/a | 1.96m (16) | 5 June 2011 (2011-06-05) |
| 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. | ||||||
| 6 | 2 | "Devon and Cornwall" | Paul Barnett | n/a | 3.05m (6) | 26 June 2011 (2011-06-26) |
| Nick Crane visits the Devon and Cornwall coastlines, joining a fishing expedition on board one of the last remaining Brixham trawlers, which were constructed more than 100 years ago. He explores a string of forts built by Henry VIII, before taking a ferry to the Isles of Scilly, where Miranda Krestovnikoff goes snorkelling 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. | ||||||
| 6 | 3 | "The Netherlands" | David Symonds | n/a | 2.16m (12) | 19 June 2011 (2011-06-19) |
| The team travels to Holland, where Nick Crane explores how Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences following the great North Sea floods in 1953, which killed thousands of people. 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. | ||||||
| 6 | 4 | "The Western Isles and Shetland" | Michael Burke | n/a | 2.94m (5) | 3 July 2011 (2011-07-03) |
| The team goes island-hopping around the Western Isles and out to Shetland. Nick Crane hunts for gannets on Eriskay, and 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. | ||||||
| 6 | 5 | "Wales: Border to Border" | Ross Young | n/a | 2.27m (5) | 10 July 2011 (2011-07-10) |
| The team explores the Welsh coast. 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. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Sweden and The Baltic Sea" | Mike Taylor | n/a | 2.34m (7) | 17 July 2011 (2011-07-17) |
| 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. 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. |
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