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 for real. But despite the hours of training, there are some situations they just can’t prepare for.\n\nIn Scotland, the Fraserburgh crew get a mayday call – first they have to find a stricken fishing boat in mountainous seas, then get a tow line attached to her in a force-eight gale, before trying to tow her back to port with neither a working rudder nor any steering.\n\nOne hundred miles due east, the crew at Scotland’s only inland lifeboat station, Loch Ness, face their own unique rescue – a yacht at one end of the loch has become lodged on a weir that drains into the river Ness. With one wrong move from the lifeboat threatening to topple the yacht over the weir, the crew must somehow manoeuvre it to safety.\n\nMeanwhile, on the north Devon coast, the crew at Minehead race to a boat trapped in the Bristol Channel at low tide to rescue an unusual casualty - a young puppy called Skip who has swallowed a fishing hook.
Source: 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 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 ...
28-07-2024
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 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 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 7: 3. Caught Out
In Lyme Regis, on Dorset’s Jurassic coast, the crew face a frantic search for three fishermen whose boat has capsized in the River Axe. On the north Cornish coast, the lif ...
25-06-2024
BBC 2
Series 9: 10. Hidden Dangers
The RNLI respond to over 9,000 shouts each year - and what often gets people into trouble in the first place are the hidden dangers.\n\nIn Porthcawl, on the south-west coast of ...
05-06-2024
BBC 2
Series 9: 9. Pride
Whatever their individual background or experience, the RNLI’s 5,700 volunteers all share the pride of pulling on the famous yellow jacket.\n\nOn the north Somerset coast, ...
30-05-2024
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 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
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 8: 1. Training To Save Lives
As well as dropping everything when the pager sounds, the volunteer crews of the RNLI also train regularly - so that when the call does come, everyone is primed and ready.\n\nIn ...
13-10-2023
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
Series 9: 4. First Time For Everything
For every RNLI crew member, the first shout is just the beginning of many firsts.\n\nOn the south western tip of Ireland, Castletownbere crew member Donagh faces a baptism of fi ...
25-04-2024
BBC 2
Series 5: 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 ...
15-05-2022
BBC 2
Series 2: Episode 11
Every day around the UK, an army of unpaid volunteers put their lives on the line to try and save complete strangers. Saving Lives at Sea tells the story of the ordinary men and ...
22-03-2018
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
Series 3: 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 series tells the story of the ordinary me ...
12-07-2020
BBC 2