Catch up TV

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 to cargo ships on the rocks. In almost every single rescue every second counts. Saving Lives At Sea tells the story of the ordinary men and women who give up their time to do something extraordinary, giving an insight into the lives of the 6,000 lifeboat crew members who are prepared to put their lives on hold whenever the pager sounds, and whatever the weather.\n\nSaving Lives At Sea brings us some of the RNLI’s most extraordinary recent rescues, filmed with the crews’ own cameras, and taking us straight into the heart of the drama. The series captures life at some of the 238 RNLI stations across the UK and Ireland, the compelling stories behind the crew members involved, and the heartfelt testimony of the casualties they’ve saved.\n\nOver 90% of the RNLI’s rescues come under the broad heading ‘Leisure Gone Wrong’ - often an innocent day at the beach or a trip out to sea can turn into a nightmare. In Porthcawl, a surfer’s paradise turns out to be anything but when Storm Brendan wreaks havoc and leaves a group of young friends - and the crew who come to rescue them - in grave danger. In Selsey, a family’s day out for a spot of paddleboarding goes badly awry when a father becomes separated from his young children, leaving them stranded on a rapidly dwindling sandbank. In Anstruther, the crew are called to reports of a local man who’s injured himself jumping off rocks, but takes some persuasion to accept their help. And an exhausted swimmer in the Bristol Channel causes the Portishead crew to take decisive action.

Source: BBC 2