1 00:00:15,087 --> 00:00:16,839 (CHILDREN PLAYING) 2 00:00:24,807 --> 00:00:26,604 It's good to be back. 3 00:00:28,047 --> 00:00:30,845 NEIL OLIVER: We love to be beside the sea. 4 00:00:32,367 --> 00:00:35,245 It's where we're free to express ourselves, 5 00:00:36,407 --> 00:00:39,558 and it's shaped our lives through thousands of years 6 00:00:39,647 --> 00:00:43,037 of trade, migration and war. 7 00:00:43,127 --> 00:00:44,276 Amen. 8 00:00:45,247 --> 00:00:47,283 But it's the mix of people in Britain 9 00:00:47,367 --> 00:00:50,245 that really connects us to the wider world. 10 00:00:52,487 --> 00:00:56,002 And in this new series we're going further than ever before 11 00:00:56,167 --> 00:00:58,397 in search of those connections. 12 00:00:58,487 --> 00:01:00,876 PILOT: You'll feel the first sensations of G. 13 00:01:00,967 --> 00:01:04,403 OLIVER: Oh, yes. I'm definitely feeling G. 14 00:01:05,367 --> 00:01:08,404 We'll discover brand new stories close to home 15 00:01:08,567 --> 00:01:11,639 and also journey beyond the edge of our islands 16 00:01:11,927 --> 00:01:13,838 to meet the neighbours, 17 00:01:14,647 --> 00:01:17,320 far, far north to the coast of Norway, 18 00:01:20,447 --> 00:01:22,324 and south to Normandy, 19 00:01:23,407 --> 00:01:25,637 and out into the deep Atlantic 20 00:01:26,727 --> 00:01:28,558 to the Faroe Islands. 21 00:01:30,727 --> 00:01:33,082 Viking traders, 22 00:01:33,167 --> 00:01:36,637 Norman invaders, we share a common bond 23 00:01:36,767 --> 00:01:38,280 coast to coast, 24 00:01:39,767 --> 00:01:43,885 all part of the ever-expanding story of our shores. 25 00:01:44,967 --> 00:01:49,006 It's a brand new adventure, but with some famiIiar faces. 26 00:01:50,327 --> 00:01:53,160 This time Nick Crane explores lost worlds 27 00:01:53,247 --> 00:01:55,397 on England's largest island. 28 00:01:58,487 --> 00:02:02,605 Alice Roberts takes to the air, six inches into the air. 29 00:02:02,847 --> 00:02:05,680 Oh! There's some quite big waves out here. 30 00:02:06,287 --> 00:02:10,041 OLIVER: Archaeologist Mark Horton searches for a Victorian railway 31 00:02:10,127 --> 00:02:11,560 that ran underwater. 32 00:02:11,647 --> 00:02:13,717 (LAUGHING) Ian, this is compIeteIy mad. 33 00:02:14,447 --> 00:02:15,880 OLIVER: And launching another expedition 34 00:02:15,967 --> 00:02:18,003 to uncover our coastal wildlife 35 00:02:18,087 --> 00:02:20,601 is naturalist Miranda Krestovnikoff. 36 00:02:21,367 --> 00:02:22,720 Sitting down... 37 00:02:22,807 --> 00:02:26,561 OLIVER: Me, I find new direction in Iife as a director. 38 00:02:26,927 --> 00:02:28,155 That's good. Keep going and back... 39 00:02:28,247 --> 00:02:32,445 OLIVER: Reliving the glory days of Britain's own Hollywood-on-Sea. 40 00:02:33,607 --> 00:02:37,077 This is our coast and beyond. 41 00:03:02,967 --> 00:03:04,958 OLIVER: For the first leg of our new adventure, 42 00:03:05,047 --> 00:03:08,084 we're heading for The Needles, on the Isle of Wight, 43 00:03:08,447 --> 00:03:11,439 on a 200-mile journey around the South Coast. 44 00:03:11,647 --> 00:03:16,277 Our starting point is Whitstable, famous for its oysters. 45 00:03:18,847 --> 00:03:21,156 There's been a festivaI of one kind or another here, 46 00:03:21,247 --> 00:03:25,559 to ceIebrate the IocaI catch, ever since the Romans first invited themseIves over 47 00:03:25,647 --> 00:03:27,524 around 2,000 years ago. 48 00:03:28,927 --> 00:03:31,964 That's 2,000 years of coming down to the sea 49 00:03:32,047 --> 00:03:33,480 for pleasure, 50 00:03:34,967 --> 00:03:36,559 for nourishment... 51 00:03:37,007 --> 00:03:39,282 Oh, my goodness, it's Moby Dick in here. 52 00:03:39,367 --> 00:03:41,164 Okay, down the hatch. 53 00:03:42,967 --> 00:03:43,956 ...to build stuff. 54 00:03:44,047 --> 00:03:47,119 -Right, now you show me what to do. -You get these here... 55 00:03:47,207 --> 00:03:49,641 OLIVER: Hereabouts the children don't make sand castles, 56 00:03:49,727 --> 00:03:52,366 they build something called a grotter, 57 00:03:53,367 --> 00:03:56,120 tottering towers made from oyster shells. 58 00:03:58,607 --> 00:04:00,882 No one's quite sure how it started, 59 00:04:00,967 --> 00:04:06,087 but the construction usually coincides with the ancient feast day of St James in July. 60 00:04:09,287 --> 00:04:13,121 At the end of it, these miniature shrines are offered up to the sea 61 00:04:13,207 --> 00:04:15,437 to be washed away by the tide. 62 00:04:16,727 --> 00:04:21,005 We do seem to have a tradition of building strange stuff on the coast. 63 00:04:28,687 --> 00:04:31,724 We're six miles offshore, north of Whitstable. 64 00:04:34,247 --> 00:04:38,081 Aren't these fantastic? From this angIe, they aImost Iook as if they're moving. 65 00:04:38,167 --> 00:04:42,001 There's a hint of every robot monster that you ever saw in a sci-fi fiIm, 66 00:04:42,087 --> 00:04:43,805 but more than anything, to me, 67 00:04:43,887 --> 00:04:47,243 they Iook Iike the Martians in The War of the Worlds. 68 00:04:48,007 --> 00:04:52,239 This group of odd-looking towers is the Red Sands Sea Fort. 69 00:04:53,207 --> 00:04:57,246 Built in 1943, it was a late addition to London's air defences, 70 00:04:58,047 --> 00:05:00,880 the vision of engineer Guy Maunsell. 71 00:05:04,647 --> 00:05:07,764 Because building offshore in wartime was dangerous, 72 00:05:07,847 --> 00:05:11,396 Maunsell had to pioneer a new technique of construction. 73 00:05:11,967 --> 00:05:15,721 Each of the 750-ton towers was assembled on land, 74 00:05:16,127 --> 00:05:19,722 then floated out on pontoons and dropped onto the seabed. 75 00:05:22,287 --> 00:05:25,040 When in place, the individual towers of the fort 76 00:05:25,127 --> 00:05:27,436 were linked by aerial walkways. 77 00:05:29,407 --> 00:05:32,604 The fort housed up to 265 men, 78 00:05:32,687 --> 00:05:35,406 stationed here for a month at a time. 79 00:05:35,927 --> 00:05:38,157 This is a very strange pIace. 80 00:05:38,487 --> 00:05:41,399 On the one hand, there's aII this rusted metaI and rivets. 81 00:05:41,487 --> 00:05:45,002 It feeIs Iike the rusting huIk of an oId battIeship. 82 00:05:45,407 --> 00:05:50,003 But then you come in here and there's beds because, since the war, 83 00:05:50,087 --> 00:05:53,159 it's used intermittentIy as a radio station. 84 00:05:53,247 --> 00:05:56,603 It just adds to the sense of it being, I don't know, 85 00:05:56,807 --> 00:05:58,718 vagueIy haunted out here. 86 00:05:58,807 --> 00:06:00,320 Strange pIace. 87 00:06:04,527 --> 00:06:08,042 This was one of three forts built in the Thames Estuary. 88 00:06:08,767 --> 00:06:12,521 They were the result of hard lessons learnt early in the war, 89 00:06:12,647 --> 00:06:17,801 when German bombers had used the Thames as a route to navigate to the capital. 90 00:06:20,927 --> 00:06:25,045 From the top of the towers, anti-aircraft guns had a clear shot at planes 91 00:06:25,127 --> 00:06:27,083 trying to get to London. 92 00:06:27,847 --> 00:06:32,125 They destroyed 22 of them, as well as 30 flying bombs. 93 00:06:33,007 --> 00:06:35,999 For Maunsell, it was an engineering triumph. 94 00:06:39,527 --> 00:06:41,916 Every now and again you can feeI the whoIe thing move, 95 00:06:42,007 --> 00:06:46,319 and that's because 750 tons or not, the strength of the fort comes from 96 00:06:46,407 --> 00:06:49,240 the fact that the Iegs can move. 97 00:06:49,327 --> 00:06:51,921 They can settIe into the constantIy shifting sand 98 00:06:52,007 --> 00:06:56,080 and they can roII with the waves and the wind much Iike a tree does. 99 00:06:56,807 --> 00:07:00,561 They say that even if one of the Iegs was bIown out, 100 00:07:01,607 --> 00:07:04,758 the individuaI tower wouId stiII remain standing. 101 00:07:05,167 --> 00:07:07,920 I don't reaIIy fancy trying that myseIf. 102 00:07:12,527 --> 00:07:15,246 Maunsell's sea-fort design was to serve Britain 103 00:07:15,327 --> 00:07:17,966 one more time after the war. 104 00:07:20,567 --> 00:07:25,516 In 1955, the very first offshore drilling platform in the North Sea 105 00:07:25,647 --> 00:07:28,115 was adapted from his tower design, 106 00:07:28,407 --> 00:07:32,116 a clear inspiration for the oil rush ten years later. 107 00:07:43,207 --> 00:07:46,119 But whatever plans we have for building on the coast, 108 00:07:46,207 --> 00:07:49,802 it seems the coast has ideas of its own. 109 00:07:52,767 --> 00:07:56,282 800 years ago, there was a major sea port here. 110 00:07:56,727 --> 00:07:59,082 Now, it's not even on the coast. 111 00:08:01,287 --> 00:08:05,439 Sandwich, although still a port in name, is 2 miles inland. 112 00:08:06,167 --> 00:08:08,635 Here, the coast has rebuilt itself. 113 00:08:10,487 --> 00:08:14,400 In the 13th century, it looked out over the mouth of a sea channel, 114 00:08:14,487 --> 00:08:16,921 a shortcut from London to France. 115 00:08:18,567 --> 00:08:22,276 But centuries of silting up have reclaimed the land 116 00:08:22,487 --> 00:08:24,284 and re-drawn the map. 117 00:08:27,207 --> 00:08:30,040 Whilst Sandwich may have taken a back seat, 118 00:08:31,727 --> 00:08:35,800 along the coast, another port with an ancient pedigree 119 00:08:36,007 --> 00:08:38,521 is still very much on the front line. 120 00:08:51,487 --> 00:08:56,117 There's a ceaseless movement of people and goods at the heart of Dover. 121 00:08:59,247 --> 00:09:03,035 14 million people each year catch the ferry to France. 122 00:09:09,327 --> 00:09:14,162 As sea journeys go, the 20 miles or so to Calais is hardly an ocean cruise, 123 00:09:15,007 --> 00:09:17,396 more functional than fashionable, 124 00:09:18,447 --> 00:09:20,597 but Alice Roberts is finding out 125 00:09:20,687 --> 00:09:24,566 when a Channel crossing was the glamour ticket. 126 00:09:26,047 --> 00:09:30,916 ALICE ROBERTS: In 1974, local girl Angie Westacott applied for a new job. 127 00:09:32,087 --> 00:09:35,397 It was to be the start of a 20-year-long love affair 128 00:09:35,687 --> 00:09:37,439 with the hovercraft. 129 00:09:37,967 --> 00:09:41,039 I never, ever got tired of seeing that. 130 00:09:41,127 --> 00:09:44,483 And to this day, if it came up, I'd stiII be Iooking at it and thinking, 131 00:09:44,567 --> 00:09:47,400 ''Oh, wow, that is fantastic, absoIuteIy amazing''. 132 00:09:47,487 --> 00:09:48,681 So you got the job? 133 00:09:48,767 --> 00:09:53,045 Got the job, yes, and after a coupIe of days, got used to the movement and the motion 134 00:09:53,127 --> 00:09:56,119 and absoIuteIy Ioved it. And a Iot of us did. 135 00:09:57,007 --> 00:10:00,522 ROBERTS: It was the futuristic way to cross the Channel. 136 00:10:01,247 --> 00:10:03,363 This was the age of Concorde, 137 00:10:03,447 --> 00:10:07,156 the moon landings and giant passenger hovercraft. 138 00:10:08,287 --> 00:10:10,164 MAN ON RECORDING: With its payload of 90 tons, 139 00:10:10,247 --> 00:10:15,321 it can carry 416 passengers and 60 vehicles in airline-style comfort 140 00:10:15,407 --> 00:10:18,205 at a cruising speed of 65 knots. 141 00:10:18,967 --> 00:10:23,119 ROBERTS: They flew for more than 30 years before being wound up 142 00:10:23,207 --> 00:10:25,880 and the hoverport at Dover abandoned. 143 00:10:28,287 --> 00:10:29,925 So what happened? 144 00:10:30,127 --> 00:10:33,756 Didn't the passenger experience live up to the glamorous image? 145 00:10:35,007 --> 00:10:37,362 There's only one way to find out for sure 146 00:10:37,447 --> 00:10:41,076 and that's to cross the Channel in a hovercraft ourselves, 147 00:10:41,167 --> 00:10:44,796 with Angie and some of her former crewmates as our guides. 148 00:10:46,887 --> 00:10:50,880 But in order to get to grips with the highs and Iows of hovercraft history, 149 00:10:50,967 --> 00:10:55,643 I'm going to have to go right back to the beginning, to where it aII took off. 150 00:10:57,247 --> 00:11:00,603 The passenger hovercraft was British through and through, 151 00:11:00,687 --> 00:11:04,965 the brainchild of Christopher Cockerell, an engineer and boat builder. 152 00:11:05,687 --> 00:11:08,724 He began experimenting in the early 1950s, 153 00:11:08,887 --> 00:11:12,163 and actually worked out the physics in his kitchen. 154 00:11:12,327 --> 00:11:16,525 Hovercraft historian Warwick Jacobs is going to show me how. 155 00:11:16,927 --> 00:11:20,237 So Warwick, these are the sorts of things that CockereII was pIaying around with then? 156 00:11:20,327 --> 00:11:24,684 Yes, just househoId objects reaIIy, pair of kitchen scaIes, coffee tins 157 00:11:24,767 --> 00:11:27,679 -and an ordinary hair bIower. -A hairdryer, in fact. 158 00:11:27,767 --> 00:11:31,726 (LAUGHING) Let's see what that can Iift with just a jet of air onto the scaIes. 159 00:11:31,807 --> 00:11:33,877 -Okay. -Try it with one ounce first. 160 00:11:33,967 --> 00:11:34,956 So we're doing it on this fIat side? 161 00:11:35,047 --> 00:11:38,926 Yep, try it on the fIat side, 'cause Iess air is going to escape, 162 00:11:39,007 --> 00:11:40,998 and that wiII easiIy Iift one ounce. 163 00:11:41,087 --> 00:11:43,123 -Let's see if it wiII Iift the two. -Yeah, no probIem. 164 00:11:43,207 --> 00:11:45,402 JACOBS: WiII it Iift the two? 165 00:11:45,887 --> 00:11:47,957 -No, so what we're going to do now... -Can't do that, no. 166 00:11:48,047 --> 00:11:50,163 ...is create, as CockereII did... 167 00:11:50,247 --> 00:11:53,876 What we've got here is two tins, one tin inside the other tin. 168 00:11:53,967 --> 00:11:55,480 -Yeah. -And the jet of air comes down 169 00:11:55,567 --> 00:11:58,684 through between the two tins, forming a curtain of air, 170 00:11:58,767 --> 00:12:00,997 a jet of air, which stops this inner air escaping. 171 00:12:01,087 --> 00:12:02,236 That's much more effective than 172 00:12:02,327 --> 00:12:04,966 just having a singIe jet of air turning it into a ring. 173 00:12:05,047 --> 00:12:08,676 ExactIy, exactIy, it's the same amount of air doing twice as much work. 174 00:12:08,767 --> 00:12:11,235 Go back to the one and we'II see, it shouId do that quite easiIy. 175 00:12:11,327 --> 00:12:12,362 ROBERTS: Turn it on. 176 00:12:12,447 --> 00:12:13,846 -JACOBS: No probIem at aII. -Yeah. 177 00:12:13,927 --> 00:12:17,124 JACOBS: Try it with the two. Easy. 178 00:12:17,207 --> 00:12:19,880 -Yeah. -Let's see if it'II do the three. 179 00:12:20,927 --> 00:12:22,280 -JACOBS: Yes... -Yes, and I'm stiII 180 00:12:22,367 --> 00:12:24,927 not touching the pIate or moving around on it. 181 00:12:25,007 --> 00:12:28,477 WiII it do the four? And if Iifts four ounces. 182 00:12:28,567 --> 00:12:30,717 If you scaIe that up, the bigger it gets, 183 00:12:30,807 --> 00:12:33,844 the more efficient, and it works a Iot better. 184 00:12:33,927 --> 00:12:37,363 ROBERTS: So it's a curtain of compressed air pushing down 185 00:12:37,447 --> 00:12:39,915 that gives the hovercraft its lift. 186 00:12:42,647 --> 00:12:46,845 The first successful cross-Channel flight was in 1959, 187 00:12:47,127 --> 00:12:51,086 Christopher Cockerell hanging on for dear life on the front of his prototype 188 00:12:51,167 --> 00:12:53,123 to keep it weighed down. 189 00:12:54,927 --> 00:12:59,603 So how do you control what is effectively a big floating hairdryer? 190 00:13:01,007 --> 00:13:02,679 (ENGINE STARTING) 191 00:13:02,767 --> 00:13:04,758 Time for a flying lesson. 192 00:13:05,927 --> 00:13:07,519 (ENGINE REVVING) 193 00:13:11,527 --> 00:13:12,676 Great. 194 00:13:14,287 --> 00:13:15,276 WeII, I just... 195 00:13:15,367 --> 00:13:16,766 (EXCLAIMING) 196 00:13:18,967 --> 00:13:21,606 I'm travelling on a frictionless cushion of air, 197 00:13:21,687 --> 00:13:25,316 but my instructor Russ tells me I'm not properly hovering yet. 198 00:13:25,407 --> 00:13:28,240 What you're doing is, you're just bIowing a big hoIe in the water 199 00:13:28,327 --> 00:13:32,081 and because you keep Iosing confidence and sIowing down and turning too tight, 200 00:13:32,167 --> 00:13:34,317 you're just faIIing into that hoIe in the water. 201 00:13:34,407 --> 00:13:36,841 You've got to keep moving. You've got to keep your turns gentIe 202 00:13:36,927 --> 00:13:38,838 and keep your speed up. 203 00:13:40,007 --> 00:13:42,840 Oh! There's some quite big waves out here. 204 00:13:44,727 --> 00:13:47,161 I'm hanging on for dear Iife here. 205 00:13:48,167 --> 00:13:50,761 Those earIy piIots Iearning to drive these things 206 00:13:50,847 --> 00:13:54,078 reaIIy had their job cut out for them. 207 00:13:56,847 --> 00:14:00,123 -Can I have another go, Russ? -I don't see why not. 208 00:14:04,807 --> 00:14:08,595 ROBERTS: Once mastered, I can see it was a lot of fun for the early pilots. 209 00:14:08,687 --> 00:14:13,556 And when the commercial service started in 1968, the public loved it, too. 210 00:14:16,167 --> 00:14:17,600 What went wrong then? 211 00:14:17,687 --> 00:14:21,475 Was there something about the ride that made the thrill fade? 212 00:14:24,167 --> 00:14:28,922 To find out, we need some passengers. I've brought Warwick and my dad. 213 00:14:29,047 --> 00:14:33,404 He's an engineer. He also rode on the hover service in the '70s. 214 00:14:34,047 --> 00:14:38,165 We're going to fly the old route to Calais in this 12-seater hovercraft, 215 00:14:38,247 --> 00:14:41,956 with former crew members Angie, Vanessa and Brian. 216 00:14:49,327 --> 00:14:51,522 ReaIIy strange, I've never been in a hovercraft before 217 00:14:51,607 --> 00:14:54,280 -and this is reaIIy quite bizarre. -Have you not? 218 00:14:54,367 --> 00:14:56,085 It is Iike fIying. 219 00:14:56,167 --> 00:14:59,603 So, what was the quickest you ever did a crossing to CaIais in then, Brian? 220 00:14:59,687 --> 00:15:01,484 Twenty-five minutes. 221 00:15:01,927 --> 00:15:04,521 Angie, you were handing drinks out to peopIe? 222 00:15:04,607 --> 00:15:09,397 We were, yes, and in fact, at times, it was so quick that we didn't have time 223 00:15:09,487 --> 00:15:11,079 -to serve aII the passengers. -Right. 224 00:15:11,167 --> 00:15:15,445 So we'd have to phone up the fIight deck and say, ''Can you sIow down''? 225 00:15:17,567 --> 00:15:19,956 Dad, I thought I'd find you up here with the piIot. 226 00:15:20,047 --> 00:15:21,560 Yes, of course. 227 00:15:21,727 --> 00:15:25,766 From what I can see, you're skidding aII the time, isn't that right, Rob? 228 00:15:25,847 --> 00:15:30,159 A car on ice or chasing a bar of soap around the bathtub. It's a bit Iike that. 229 00:15:30,247 --> 00:15:33,683 Can't aIways grab hoId of this bar of soap. You can't quite grab hoId of it. 230 00:15:36,127 --> 00:15:40,882 ROBERTS: In its heyday, no other crossing could match the hovercraft for speed. 231 00:15:42,287 --> 00:15:45,757 The big craft could take on three-metre-high waves, 232 00:15:46,087 --> 00:15:48,885 but it wasn't always a comfortable ride. 233 00:15:48,967 --> 00:15:53,483 Stylish, maybe. Smooth, that was another matter. 234 00:15:58,847 --> 00:16:01,202 Thirty bone-rattling minutes in, 235 00:16:01,287 --> 00:16:04,518 we're experiencing the ups and downs first-hand. 236 00:16:05,847 --> 00:16:09,999 WeII, our piIot, Rob, has just decided to turn around and go back to Dover. 237 00:16:10,087 --> 00:16:14,239 We made it haIfway across the ChanneI, but the sweII got too big, 238 00:16:14,327 --> 00:16:17,239 just over a metre, so we're now heading back. 239 00:16:17,327 --> 00:16:19,158 White CIiffs of Dover. 240 00:16:20,327 --> 00:16:23,285 But it wasn't the occasional rocky ride that brought about 241 00:16:23,367 --> 00:16:25,323 the end of the Dover service. 242 00:16:25,407 --> 00:16:29,320 Even when the Channel Tunnel opened, passengers were still queueing 243 00:16:29,407 --> 00:16:31,363 to catch the hovercraft. 244 00:16:31,847 --> 00:16:34,486 Warwick, it seems Iike such a fantastic form of transport, 245 00:16:34,567 --> 00:16:36,637 so why on earth did it wind down? 246 00:16:36,727 --> 00:16:40,561 It was the ending of duty free which finished the hovercraft. 247 00:16:40,647 --> 00:16:42,603 They couId beat the tunneI. There was no probIem. 248 00:16:42,687 --> 00:16:44,564 They were stiII faster, right to the very end. 249 00:16:44,647 --> 00:16:47,844 But duty free suppIemented the hovercraft service. 250 00:16:48,647 --> 00:16:52,481 ROBERTS: In fact duty-free sales didn't just supplement the service. 251 00:16:52,567 --> 00:16:55,206 They became its main source of income. 252 00:16:56,487 --> 00:17:01,003 With spiralling fuel costs and no chance of replacing the ageing hovercraft, 253 00:17:01,647 --> 00:17:04,525 they were grounded in October 2000. 254 00:17:06,807 --> 00:17:08,923 After aII those years of working on the hovercraft, 255 00:17:09,007 --> 00:17:11,919 it must have been sad to see them finaIIy stop. 256 00:17:12,007 --> 00:17:13,235 BRIAN: It reaIIy was... 257 00:17:13,327 --> 00:17:17,206 And it's stiII sad, actuaIIy. I mean, coming on this today is just fantastic, 258 00:17:17,287 --> 00:17:20,040 because it just brings it back even more. 259 00:17:21,567 --> 00:17:24,604 ROBERTS: The hovercraft's inventor, Christopher Cockerell, predicted 260 00:17:24,687 --> 00:17:29,715 that we would travel across the Atlantic in huge nuclear-powered hovercraft. 261 00:17:30,487 --> 00:17:34,480 In the end, it was a dream that stalled in the Channel. 262 00:17:49,287 --> 00:17:51,562 OLIVER: When we've such a spectacular coastline, 263 00:17:51,647 --> 00:17:54,161 it seems a shame to leave it behind. 264 00:17:56,327 --> 00:18:00,605 For some, the Channel isn't a way out, it's a way round. 265 00:18:02,647 --> 00:18:07,641 These are outdoor swimmers, a hardy breed, experienced in the water. 266 00:18:08,847 --> 00:18:11,600 I'm Kate Rew and I'm an outdoor swimmer. 267 00:18:12,167 --> 00:18:15,204 There is nowhere more exhiIarating than the sea. 268 00:18:15,287 --> 00:18:17,562 Whatever mood I'm in, whatever kind of day I've had, 269 00:18:17,647 --> 00:18:19,160 however many spreadsheets or worries, 270 00:18:19,247 --> 00:18:21,397 or just sort of reaIIy tedious traffic jams you've been in, 271 00:18:21,487 --> 00:18:24,160 if you go for a swim, your day is made. 272 00:18:26,247 --> 00:18:28,841 REW: I always make a point of talking to locals before I get in, 273 00:18:28,927 --> 00:18:30,599 and if I'm doing a sea swim, 274 00:18:30,687 --> 00:18:33,406 then I generally tell the coastguard where I'm going, 275 00:18:33,487 --> 00:18:36,126 just because they're so unused to the idea that anybody might swim 276 00:18:36,207 --> 00:18:37,276 along the length of the coast, 277 00:18:37,367 --> 00:18:41,360 that they will come out and try and rescue you unless you forewarn them. 278 00:18:41,447 --> 00:18:44,280 You just go along a length of coastline and you get to see everything 279 00:18:44,367 --> 00:18:46,801 from a very different perspective. 280 00:18:47,647 --> 00:18:51,037 Swimming at the bottom of the cIiffs is just a wonderfuI experience, 281 00:18:51,127 --> 00:18:54,881 because they Iook so majestic when you're just bobbing aIong underneath them, 282 00:18:54,967 --> 00:18:57,686 300 foot of sort of pure chaIk above. 283 00:19:00,207 --> 00:19:03,324 Most outdoor swimmers round here would be heading off across the Channel, 284 00:19:03,407 --> 00:19:05,682 which I find remarkable because, like most people, 285 00:19:05,767 --> 00:19:08,679 I share this sort of universal fear of deep water. 286 00:19:08,767 --> 00:19:11,076 I get a sort of feeIing as I get further and further 287 00:19:11,167 --> 00:19:14,557 from the shore that something awfuI might be under the water. 288 00:19:14,647 --> 00:19:16,683 So for me, I'm going to do two miles 289 00:19:16,767 --> 00:19:19,964 along the coastline and stay quite close to shore. 290 00:19:24,967 --> 00:19:28,277 I mean, I love the fact that it makes you fit, that it gets you outdoors, 291 00:19:28,367 --> 00:19:31,996 but I just mostly like its psychological effects, that whatever mood you're in, 292 00:19:32,087 --> 00:19:36,524 by the time you get out, you just feel like you've had a really good day. 293 00:19:48,767 --> 00:19:50,837 OLIVER: Twenty-five miles on from Dover 294 00:19:50,927 --> 00:19:54,397 and the chalk cliffs have temporarily run their course, 295 00:19:54,727 --> 00:19:57,844 although their presence is still felt at Romney. 296 00:20:00,367 --> 00:20:03,245 Ten centuries ago, this was a sandy bay, 297 00:20:03,967 --> 00:20:07,039 but the flint pebbles washed out of the nearby chalk 298 00:20:07,127 --> 00:20:10,517 formed a huge barrier, drying out the land behind 299 00:20:10,927 --> 00:20:14,283 and creating the Romney Marshes. 300 00:20:19,167 --> 00:20:21,203 Across the sparse terrain, 301 00:20:21,527 --> 00:20:23,961 a strange chorus rings out. 302 00:20:24,647 --> 00:20:26,000 (CROAKING) 303 00:20:30,887 --> 00:20:34,675 Like so many of us on these islands, these noisy little frogs 304 00:20:35,087 --> 00:20:38,079 can trace their ancestors to foreign shores. 305 00:20:39,807 --> 00:20:43,595 The local story says they were brought to Romney in the 1930s 306 00:20:43,687 --> 00:20:45,484 by a Mrs Percy Smith. 307 00:20:46,327 --> 00:20:49,922 She'd acquired them in France, intending to eat them. 308 00:20:51,807 --> 00:20:56,039 UnfortunateIy for Mrs Smith, they weren't the edibIe variety of frog. 309 00:20:56,727 --> 00:20:59,161 In fact, they weren't even French. 310 00:21:02,287 --> 00:21:06,599 They're actually Hungarian Marsh Frogs, not very tasty, but right at home 311 00:21:06,687 --> 00:21:08,723 in the wetlands of Romney. 312 00:21:10,527 --> 00:21:13,439 When Mrs Smith thoughtfully released them into her garden pond, 313 00:21:13,527 --> 00:21:15,757 they wasted no time escaping 314 00:21:15,887 --> 00:21:19,243 and they've been making themselves heard ever since. 315 00:21:27,007 --> 00:21:31,683 Despite being Europe's busiest seaway, the Channel is rich in wildlife 316 00:21:32,207 --> 00:21:35,438 and people take every opportunity to land a catch. 317 00:21:38,847 --> 00:21:42,157 Although sometimes it can be a frustrating business. 318 00:21:44,727 --> 00:21:48,197 The cliffs make it impossible to launch fishing boats. 319 00:21:50,767 --> 00:21:54,396 Even when there is a gap, nature doesn't make things easy. 320 00:22:03,487 --> 00:22:07,878 In Hastings, the efforts to build a harbour have either been washed away 321 00:22:08,007 --> 00:22:09,486 or run out of money. 322 00:22:09,567 --> 00:22:12,445 So the fishermen were forced to think again. 323 00:22:14,767 --> 00:22:18,885 Miranda Krestovnikoff wants to discover their ingenious solutions. 324 00:22:21,727 --> 00:22:24,366 KRESTOVNIKOFF: When you don't have a harbour to launch your boats from, 325 00:22:24,447 --> 00:22:26,915 there's only one place you can go. 326 00:22:27,367 --> 00:22:28,720 The beach. 327 00:22:33,567 --> 00:22:37,640 Hastings is home to Europe's largest beach-launched fishing fleet. 328 00:22:38,327 --> 00:22:42,445 They've had to modify their boats, but for centuries they've also adapted 329 00:22:42,527 --> 00:22:45,325 their fishing techniques to suit the seasons 330 00:22:45,407 --> 00:22:48,001 and the different catches they bring. 331 00:22:50,487 --> 00:22:52,205 In winter it's cuttlefish, 332 00:22:52,287 --> 00:22:55,723 a creature I've had a few encounters with myself off Selsey Bill. 333 00:22:56,407 --> 00:22:59,285 It's very big, couple of feet long. 334 00:23:00,847 --> 00:23:03,645 They're a popular dish in Italy and Spain, 335 00:23:03,727 --> 00:23:06,799 and for Paul Joy, who reckons his family has been in Hastings 336 00:23:06,887 --> 00:23:10,482 since William the Conqueror, it's a relatively new catch. 337 00:23:11,207 --> 00:23:13,562 -These are cuttIefish pots. -Right. 338 00:23:13,647 --> 00:23:17,845 And we've worked with these generaIIy for the Iast 15-16 years. 339 00:23:17,927 --> 00:23:19,042 How does it work, then? 340 00:23:19,127 --> 00:23:22,915 WeII, you put a femaIe cuttIefish in and then the maIes and femaIes 341 00:23:23,007 --> 00:23:25,237 aII go through and they congregate. 342 00:23:25,327 --> 00:23:27,966 Next morning you pick it up, pour the cuttIefish out 343 00:23:28,047 --> 00:23:30,003 and put a fresh femaIe back in. 344 00:23:30,087 --> 00:23:31,281 And so on the next day. 345 00:23:31,367 --> 00:23:33,198 KRESTOVNIKOFF: What I find ironic about cuttIefish nets 346 00:23:33,287 --> 00:23:36,518 is the fact that cuttIefish actuaIIy reaIIy Iike to Iay their eggs here, 347 00:23:36,607 --> 00:23:38,996 and it seems a shame that then those eggs are wasted. 348 00:23:39,087 --> 00:23:40,361 JOY: No, no. They're not wasted. 349 00:23:40,447 --> 00:23:42,961 We try to get them back in the sea as soon as possibIe. 350 00:23:43,047 --> 00:23:46,596 -This is for our next generation. -Great stuff. 351 00:23:46,687 --> 00:23:51,078 Equal care and stealth is required for the summer catch, Dover sole. 352 00:23:51,847 --> 00:23:56,045 These flatfish live on the sea bed, burying themselves for protection, 353 00:23:56,127 --> 00:23:59,039 and so require a very specific kind of net. 354 00:23:59,167 --> 00:24:01,920 -And this is one of your trammeI nets, then? -Yes, this is a trammeI net. 355 00:24:02,007 --> 00:24:05,397 -How exactIy does it work? -WeII, effectiveIy, if you can visuaIise 356 00:24:05,487 --> 00:24:08,684 a tennis net sitting on the bottom of the sea and the Iines are tied. 357 00:24:08,767 --> 00:24:13,079 It onIy stands probabIy about four foot high at the most in the sIack water. 358 00:24:13,167 --> 00:24:15,442 And when the tide is running, it's very, very Iow. 359 00:24:15,527 --> 00:24:18,963 The fish comes swimming aIong near the bottom, it actuaIIy hits, 360 00:24:19,047 --> 00:24:22,801 goes through the Iarger outer mesh, hits the inner mesh, 361 00:24:23,287 --> 00:24:26,962 and then that forms a pocket behind the fish, it's Iike a system of traps. 362 00:24:27,047 --> 00:24:28,844 And where does this net originate from, then? 363 00:24:28,927 --> 00:24:31,077 WeII, we beIieve it originated from France, 364 00:24:31,167 --> 00:24:33,522 but it couId actuaIIy have come up from the Mediterranean 365 00:24:33,607 --> 00:24:36,167 where they've used this type of net, but much smaIIer mesh, 366 00:24:36,247 --> 00:24:37,760 for many, many generations. 367 00:24:37,847 --> 00:24:41,920 -So it's a very ancient tradition, then? -TrammeI nets are an ancient fishery. 368 00:24:43,487 --> 00:24:45,921 KRESTOVNIKOFF: Flatfish are most active when it's dark, 369 00:24:46,007 --> 00:24:49,204 so the trammel nets have to be left out overnight. 370 00:24:52,087 --> 00:24:55,921 It's the crack of dawn and it's a reaI struggIe just getting the boats down the beach, 371 00:24:56,007 --> 00:24:58,885 into the water, so they can go and catch the fish. 372 00:25:03,727 --> 00:25:07,163 We're off to check the nets for Dover sole and it takes a while. 373 00:25:07,287 --> 00:25:12,759 Each boat is painstakingly launched using ropes, winches and bulldozers. 374 00:25:15,247 --> 00:25:17,920 Most of the craft are less than 10 metres long, 375 00:25:18,007 --> 00:25:21,044 any larger and they couldn't get off the beach. 376 00:25:25,887 --> 00:25:28,845 And we're off. It's an absoIuteIy beautifuI morning. 377 00:25:28,927 --> 00:25:31,760 We've got about two and a haIf miIes to saiI out to sea 378 00:25:31,847 --> 00:25:36,523 to check the nets and to see if aII that hard work's reaIIy going to pay off. 379 00:25:43,207 --> 00:25:47,359 For Graham and his crew, the first haul is always an anxious moment. 380 00:25:51,447 --> 00:25:54,041 There are no guarantees with this method of fishing, 381 00:25:54,127 --> 00:25:56,687 even with their years of experience. 382 00:25:58,207 --> 00:26:00,641 It looks as if they've hardly caught anything. 383 00:26:00,727 --> 00:26:02,365 In fact, with their trammel nets, 384 00:26:02,447 --> 00:26:06,486 they've managed to target exactly what they were after, flatfish. 385 00:26:07,327 --> 00:26:12,117 This is average for this time of the year. Not good, not bad. Just average. 386 00:26:12,327 --> 00:26:15,125 I'm amazed at how seIective the nets are here. 387 00:26:15,207 --> 00:26:17,721 There's very IittIe that's coming up that's not a fIatfish. 388 00:26:17,807 --> 00:26:20,560 No, these are a seIective way of fishing. 389 00:26:20,647 --> 00:26:22,638 KRESTOVNIKOFF: What's the smaIIest size you're aIIowed to take? 390 00:26:22,727 --> 00:26:23,876 'Cause there's a measurement, isn't there? 391 00:26:23,967 --> 00:26:25,923 -Yeah, nine and a haIf inches. -Nine and a haIf inches. 392 00:26:26,007 --> 00:26:26,996 Just under three year oId. 393 00:26:27,087 --> 00:26:29,999 You're not catching fish that are so young they haven't had a chance to breed. 394 00:26:30,087 --> 00:26:31,566 Yes, that's correct, yes. 395 00:26:31,647 --> 00:26:35,481 What about understanding the behaviour of the fish and their Iife cycIe? 396 00:26:35,567 --> 00:26:37,444 And how important is that when you're fishing? 397 00:26:37,527 --> 00:26:39,643 It's very important. We've had scientists on board 398 00:26:39,727 --> 00:26:42,764 and doing surveys with us, and they said 399 00:26:42,847 --> 00:26:46,476 it is the most eco-friendIy way of fishing that can be devised. 400 00:26:47,247 --> 00:26:50,478 KRESTOVNIKOFF: Working with the rhythms of nature in small boats 401 00:26:50,567 --> 00:26:54,242 with specialist nets doesn't bring in a huge catch, 402 00:26:54,327 --> 00:26:56,795 but it has brought other benefits. 403 00:27:01,447 --> 00:27:06,123 Fish stocks here have remained healthy, in some cases, increasing, 404 00:27:06,407 --> 00:27:09,080 which means the ancient beach fleet of Hastings 405 00:27:09,167 --> 00:27:11,476 could be here for the long haul. 406 00:27:18,847 --> 00:27:20,758 OLIVER: A stone's throw from the shingle beach 407 00:27:20,847 --> 00:27:23,315 is a miniature Battle of Hastings. 408 00:27:25,247 --> 00:27:28,205 There are golf courses all along this coast. 409 00:27:28,287 --> 00:27:31,962 Even the smallest ones attract players from foreign shores. 410 00:27:33,487 --> 00:27:37,765 It may seem crazy to us, but it's a serious business for them. 411 00:27:40,127 --> 00:27:44,245 My name is Jouni VaIkjarvi. I come from FinIand. 412 00:27:44,367 --> 00:27:48,599 I came over here to Britain to pIay miniature goIf. 413 00:27:49,407 --> 00:27:53,366 I'm here in Hastings to prepare for the British Open. 414 00:27:59,887 --> 00:28:02,765 Now that I've warmed up at the crazy-goIf course, 415 00:28:02,847 --> 00:28:05,998 I'm going to try out this adventure-goIf course. 416 00:28:07,407 --> 00:28:11,320 Adventure golf is more about the surroundings than the course itself 417 00:28:11,687 --> 00:28:13,996 with waterfalls and stuff like this. 418 00:28:14,407 --> 00:28:18,082 When I approach a new hoIe I haven't pIayed before, 419 00:28:18,327 --> 00:28:20,795 I take many practice shots. 420 00:28:21,167 --> 00:28:24,045 I make a note of where I placed the ball, 421 00:28:24,127 --> 00:28:27,597 where I tried to aim to, to find the best line. 422 00:28:28,487 --> 00:28:29,761 Oh, dear. 423 00:28:29,847 --> 00:28:33,999 We do have a lot of different balls we are allowed to use. 424 00:28:34,167 --> 00:28:39,764 Those balls have different properties in jump, weight and hardness. 425 00:28:40,647 --> 00:28:44,879 If I think I need to play a rebound shot or go straight to the hole, 426 00:28:44,967 --> 00:28:48,482 I choose the right ball for that particular hole. 427 00:28:49,487 --> 00:28:53,878 I've been coming to EngIand for this tournament for... This is my fourth time. 428 00:28:55,167 --> 00:28:56,646 I hope to win. 429 00:28:56,847 --> 00:29:01,921 It won't be easy, but I just hope I'm happy with my own game. 430 00:29:07,087 --> 00:29:09,999 OLIVER: And if you're wondering, Jouni finished the British Open 431 00:29:10,087 --> 00:29:15,081 in a creditable third place, beaten by two Swedish players. 432 00:29:18,927 --> 00:29:23,682 Hastings has seen an ebb and flow of people as much as any place on this coast. 433 00:29:24,647 --> 00:29:27,161 But when the Normans arrived in their longboats, 434 00:29:27,247 --> 00:29:31,081 it's generally acknowledged that they didn't land in Hastings. 435 00:29:33,127 --> 00:29:37,564 Pevensey, ten miles west, was ground zero in 1066. 436 00:29:50,647 --> 00:29:53,684 From Beachy Head to Brighton, the chalk cliffs form a barrier 437 00:29:53,767 --> 00:29:56,042 with only a few natural breaks. 438 00:30:00,247 --> 00:30:03,876 One chink in this coastal armour is at Rottingdean. 439 00:30:08,727 --> 00:30:12,720 It's been an obvious temptation to invaders and marauders for centuries, 440 00:30:12,807 --> 00:30:17,085 but Mark Horton has been drawn here by Rottingdean's hidden treasures. 441 00:30:19,687 --> 00:30:23,600 HORTON: For me, one of the best things about the coast is the way 442 00:30:23,687 --> 00:30:27,362 low tide reveals lost secrets of the sea. 443 00:30:29,127 --> 00:30:33,803 I'm looking for clues for a mad piece of Victorian engineering. 444 00:30:35,567 --> 00:30:39,162 An eIectric raiIway that ran under the sea. 445 00:30:40,687 --> 00:30:45,238 It was built by engineer Magnus Volk in 1896. 446 00:30:46,047 --> 00:30:50,518 He wanted to create an electric railway that could run along the beach 447 00:30:50,927 --> 00:30:53,122 even at high tide. 448 00:30:54,887 --> 00:31:00,837 Quite how he did it would only become clear to me once the tide has gone out, 449 00:31:02,607 --> 00:31:08,603 so I've time to look into why he would want to build it here in the first place. 450 00:31:10,527 --> 00:31:14,486 Volk, the son of a German emigre, wasn't the first person 451 00:31:14,567 --> 00:31:18,401 with foreign connections to influence the town. 452 00:31:21,087 --> 00:31:26,923 By the Saxon pond next to the Norman church, the connections go even further. 453 00:31:29,127 --> 00:31:33,439 Sue, Glenda and Catherine, from the local preservation society, 454 00:31:33,567 --> 00:31:38,243 want me to see the former home of a celebrated son of the British Empire, 455 00:31:39,127 --> 00:31:41,766 who put Rottingdean in the public eye. 456 00:31:43,527 --> 00:31:46,200 I feeI Iike a rubbernecking tourist. 457 00:31:46,287 --> 00:31:48,642 -So, whose house was that? -Rudyard KipIing's. 458 00:31:48,727 --> 00:31:50,718 Did they reaIIy bring Iadders to Iook inside? 459 00:31:50,807 --> 00:31:55,722 No, no, no. One of the IocaI pubs ran a doubIe-decker, horse-drawn omnibus 460 00:31:55,847 --> 00:31:59,726 for the tourists and they came round, parked outside the waII, 461 00:31:59,807 --> 00:32:03,243 the tourists aII rushed to the top deck and Iooked over the waII at KipIing. 462 00:32:03,327 --> 00:32:04,726 And this is where you were standing. 463 00:32:06,007 --> 00:32:10,444 Kipling arrived in 1897, already a household name. 464 00:32:11,247 --> 00:32:15,923 His most famous work, The JungIe Book, had been published three years before. 465 00:32:17,767 --> 00:32:20,998 And did KipIing Iiving here, did it make a more famous pIace? 466 00:32:21,087 --> 00:32:23,885 AbsoIuteIy, he brought aII his sort of famous friends, 467 00:32:23,967 --> 00:32:26,879 artistic friends, and suddenIy tourism started. 468 00:32:26,967 --> 00:32:30,004 PeopIe wanted to see them, so they fIocked here. 469 00:32:30,647 --> 00:32:36,324 HORTON: Rottingdean, popular with day-trippers, now had celebrity status, 470 00:32:36,407 --> 00:32:39,285 a boon for Volk and his electric railway. 471 00:32:46,607 --> 00:32:49,565 And now, exposed by the tide, 472 00:32:49,647 --> 00:32:51,683 is what I've come to see. 473 00:32:53,327 --> 00:32:57,843 Ian Gledhill has written a history of Volk's eccentric railway. 474 00:32:58,007 --> 00:32:59,884 Ian, this is compIeteIy mad. 475 00:32:59,967 --> 00:33:01,685 It is unbeIievabIe, isn't it, that there shouId be 476 00:33:01,767 --> 00:33:03,917 a raiIway aIong the beach Iike this? 477 00:33:04,007 --> 00:33:05,486 The track ran on these concrete bIocks. 478 00:33:05,567 --> 00:33:09,003 This is one set of tracks and there was another set a IittIe further over. 479 00:33:09,087 --> 00:33:13,797 Hang on. You can see its Iine running aII the way aIong here. 480 00:33:13,887 --> 00:33:17,436 That's right, four raiIs. There were two raiIs on here, and two raiIs over there, 481 00:33:17,527 --> 00:33:22,078 18 feet between the two. It had the widest track gauge of any raiIway ever buiIt. 482 00:33:22,167 --> 00:33:25,125 HORTON: It stretched for three miles towards Brighton. 483 00:33:25,207 --> 00:33:28,517 The track was underwater at high tide. 484 00:33:28,607 --> 00:33:31,121 So what sort of train could run on it? 485 00:33:31,207 --> 00:33:34,882 This is a modeI made by Magnus VoIk in 1893. 486 00:33:34,967 --> 00:33:40,087 The finaI one Iooked somewhat different from that, but that was his first idea of it. 487 00:33:40,167 --> 00:33:44,365 Isn't that wonderfuI? It must have been an extraordinary sight. 488 00:33:44,447 --> 00:33:50,556 It was absoIuteIy enormous. It stood on Iegs 24 feet high. The deck was 50 feet Iong. 489 00:33:50,647 --> 00:33:54,845 On the top was a cabin that couId carry 30 passengers in comfort, 490 00:33:54,927 --> 00:33:57,680 with stained-gIass windows, chandeIiers... 491 00:33:57,767 --> 00:34:02,079 Can I just ask the simpIe question, it operated by eIectricity? 492 00:34:02,167 --> 00:34:06,046 -Yes. -It's going underwater. How did it work? 493 00:34:06,287 --> 00:34:10,326 WeII, there was an overhead wire mounted on posts aIongside the track, 494 00:34:10,407 --> 00:34:14,286 and the current came through the motor, and then the return was through the raiIs. 495 00:34:14,367 --> 00:34:17,484 So that meant at high tide it was through the sea itseIf, 496 00:34:17,567 --> 00:34:19,603 but there wasn't a HeaIth & Safety executive in those days. 497 00:34:19,687 --> 00:34:24,203 I don't know what they'd have said about it if he proposed it now. 498 00:34:24,287 --> 00:34:30,237 HORTON: And this is the only footage of Volk's creation, the Daddy Long Legs, 499 00:34:30,327 --> 00:34:33,478 as it came to be known at high tide. 500 00:34:37,127 --> 00:34:41,996 But the Daddy Long Legs was created as an extension to a railway 501 00:34:42,087 --> 00:34:44,806 Volk was already operating in Brighton. 502 00:34:45,527 --> 00:34:49,076 This is him, on the footplate, on its opening day. 503 00:34:50,687 --> 00:34:56,762 Over 125 years later, it's still running along the seafront in Brighton. 504 00:34:59,807 --> 00:35:02,480 I'm curious to know about Volk, the man. 505 00:35:04,127 --> 00:35:08,598 His granddaughter, Jill Cross, remembers him from the 1920's. 506 00:35:09,887 --> 00:35:11,639 He was a very inventive person. 507 00:35:11,887 --> 00:35:17,086 His house was the first one in Brighton to be Iit with eIectricity. 508 00:35:17,447 --> 00:35:22,441 AIso, he was an honorary radiographer 509 00:35:22,767 --> 00:35:24,917 at the ChiIdren's HospitaI. 510 00:35:25,087 --> 00:35:29,285 HORTON: As a teenager, Jill used to visit her grandfather at his workshop, 511 00:35:29,647 --> 00:35:32,684 which is still being used by the railway today. 512 00:35:33,047 --> 00:35:37,086 -Such a smaII door. -WeII, he wasn't very big himseIf. 513 00:35:38,407 --> 00:35:42,036 About 80 years since I came here Iast. 514 00:35:44,327 --> 00:35:46,079 What was this space used for? 515 00:35:46,167 --> 00:35:51,400 They had the dynamos here to power the eIectric raiIway. 516 00:35:53,927 --> 00:35:55,280 NearIy there. 517 00:35:55,367 --> 00:35:58,484 So, JiII, do you aImost expect to see your grandfather there? 518 00:35:58,567 --> 00:36:03,436 Yes, sitting at his desk and keeping an eye on things out there, 519 00:36:03,527 --> 00:36:05,882 watching the trains go up and down. 520 00:36:06,327 --> 00:36:08,079 That's wonderfuI. 521 00:36:08,167 --> 00:36:10,158 You can see why he chose this spot for his office. 522 00:36:10,247 --> 00:36:13,478 Oh, yes, to see what's going on. That's good. 523 00:36:14,167 --> 00:36:17,204 HORTON: So, Volk's original railway is still here. 524 00:36:17,287 --> 00:36:20,085 But what happened to his Daddy Long Legs? 525 00:36:20,527 --> 00:36:24,725 There was the most appaIIing storm in 1896. 526 00:36:24,807 --> 00:36:27,765 Daddy Long Legs feII over, and was totaIIy destroyed. 527 00:36:27,847 --> 00:36:30,077 And it had onIy run for six days. 528 00:36:30,447 --> 00:36:34,759 You must imagine the frustration Magnus VoIk must have feIt, but he rebuiIt it, 529 00:36:34,967 --> 00:36:37,117 and it ran for another four years after that. 530 00:36:37,207 --> 00:36:38,925 That must have cost investors a huge sum of money. 531 00:36:39,007 --> 00:36:43,762 It was probabIy haIf a miIIion pounds, in modern terms, to rebuiId it, 532 00:36:44,007 --> 00:36:46,521 and it never made money after that, which is one of the reasons 533 00:36:46,607 --> 00:36:48,325 why it didn't Iast. 534 00:36:51,807 --> 00:36:55,641 HORTON: In the end, Volk had to abandon the Daddy Long Legs, 535 00:36:56,007 --> 00:36:59,682 because he couldn't afford to move the tracks to make way 536 00:36:59,767 --> 00:37:01,758 for new coastal defences. 537 00:37:02,607 --> 00:37:08,398 His electrifying attempt to conquer the waves were claimed by the sea. 538 00:37:16,007 --> 00:37:20,683 OLIVER: There's been a steady flow of people with new ideas along this coast. 539 00:37:23,327 --> 00:37:28,845 Brighton, officially the City of Brighton & Hove, was in the 1820's 540 00:37:28,927 --> 00:37:31,999 the main terminal for ferry travel to France. 541 00:37:34,287 --> 00:37:38,405 Before the railways, it was the quickest route from London to Paris, 542 00:37:38,487 --> 00:37:43,003 which may explain its early attraction to a Bohemian crowd of artists 543 00:37:43,087 --> 00:37:44,759 and free-thinkers. 544 00:37:47,127 --> 00:37:50,563 At the turn of the 20th century, they were joined by another group, 545 00:37:50,647 --> 00:37:52,922 pioneers in a brand new fieId. 546 00:37:53,607 --> 00:37:57,077 They invented something so fundamentaI that we use it aII the time 547 00:37:57,167 --> 00:37:58,566 whiIe making Coast. 548 00:37:58,647 --> 00:38:02,959 In fact, we used it just now, and now, and now. 549 00:38:08,407 --> 00:38:13,879 These pioneers were Britain's earIy fiIm-makers and they heIped to create 550 00:38:13,967 --> 00:38:18,677 the modern movie, because they invented, among other things, the cIose-up. 551 00:38:21,167 --> 00:38:25,206 In the late 1890's, when Hollywood was little more than a citrus grove 552 00:38:25,287 --> 00:38:27,164 on the west coast of America, 553 00:38:27,247 --> 00:38:31,035 the south coast of England was a hotbed of movie making. 554 00:38:33,887 --> 00:38:36,845 Long hours of summer daylight made it ideal, 555 00:38:37,407 --> 00:38:43,243 but the very first films were pretty static by modern standards. 556 00:38:43,327 --> 00:38:45,522 Simple records of daily life, 557 00:38:45,607 --> 00:38:49,316 these early films were known as animated photographs. 558 00:38:49,407 --> 00:38:51,557 They captured events as they unfolded 559 00:38:51,647 --> 00:38:54,241 in one continuous, unedited shot. 560 00:38:57,567 --> 00:39:01,162 But George Albert Smith, a Brighton showman turned film-maker, 561 00:39:01,247 --> 00:39:02,965 had some new ideas. 562 00:39:04,127 --> 00:39:06,561 Frustrated by these single-shot films, 563 00:39:06,647 --> 00:39:09,798 he was about to transform this infant medium. 564 00:39:13,327 --> 00:39:16,319 Film historian Frank Gray is showing me how. 565 00:39:17,047 --> 00:39:20,926 What Smith did was to begin to imagine you couId buiId a fiIm sequence. 566 00:39:21,007 --> 00:39:24,204 Instead of conceiving of a singIe shot, Iike the frame, 567 00:39:24,287 --> 00:39:29,042 you couId move from that and you couId Iook at what I'm seeing now of you, 568 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:33,485 how you're Iooking at me, and aIso to the sense in which the sea, 569 00:39:33,567 --> 00:39:38,004 the sky, the shingIe, and then the kind of wider space in which we're in. 570 00:39:38,967 --> 00:39:42,323 OLIVER: Just as we move our camera to get different shots, 571 00:39:42,407 --> 00:39:46,958 Smith did the same thing, except he was the first to think of it. 572 00:39:48,167 --> 00:39:52,206 And in this early film, he shows another first, the close-up. 573 00:39:54,327 --> 00:39:57,876 So does this approach enabIe the director to trick the audience? 574 00:39:57,967 --> 00:40:02,438 AII the time. FiIm's aIways about trickery. You're working with a set of shots, 575 00:40:02,527 --> 00:40:07,157 which create the iIIusion of a continuity of time and space. 576 00:40:07,247 --> 00:40:10,080 And I think that's why we Iove the medium. 577 00:40:10,847 --> 00:40:16,365 OLIVER: Strange to think this is where the modern movie was created around 1900. 578 00:40:18,247 --> 00:40:23,082 It can't have been without its problems. Moving the big hand-cranked cameras, 579 00:40:24,167 --> 00:40:28,365 working with actors instead of just recording life as it happened. 580 00:40:29,367 --> 00:40:32,564 To understand the challenges they faced, we're going to try making 581 00:40:32,647 --> 00:40:37,243 a movie using only the equipment available to those early film-makers. 582 00:40:39,967 --> 00:40:43,164 Our drama will recreate this production from 1920, 583 00:40:43,247 --> 00:40:46,796 an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge, 584 00:40:46,887 --> 00:40:50,641 made by the ambitious sounding Progress Film Company. 585 00:40:51,687 --> 00:40:55,999 They were based in Shoreham, a few miles up the coast from Brighton. 586 00:40:56,087 --> 00:41:00,046 We're also using one of their original locations, an old fort. 587 00:41:01,687 --> 00:41:05,236 Shoreham was a rather heady place in the 1920's. 588 00:41:05,327 --> 00:41:08,285 Glamorous London actors spent their summers here, 589 00:41:08,367 --> 00:41:12,042 a ready-made cast of luvvies for the Progress Film Company. 590 00:41:15,247 --> 00:41:18,364 But what was it like to make films here? 591 00:41:18,447 --> 00:41:20,802 Gillian Gregg's grandfather actually ran 592 00:41:20,887 --> 00:41:24,402 the Progress Studios, and her mum was a child star. 593 00:41:24,487 --> 00:41:26,682 -Yes, it's my mum. -And what age is she there? 594 00:41:26,767 --> 00:41:30,043 OnIy 16, she acted under the name of Mavis CIaire. 595 00:41:30,167 --> 00:41:33,682 And it's The Mayor of Casterbridge, so this is a stiII taken during the fiIm. 596 00:41:33,767 --> 00:41:35,120 During the fiIming, yes. 597 00:41:35,207 --> 00:41:38,279 Now, if this scene here is being shot in a studio, 598 00:41:38,367 --> 00:41:41,200 where were those buiIdings in reIation to where we are? 599 00:41:41,287 --> 00:41:45,121 WeII, the best evidence I have of that is in this other aIbum. 600 00:41:45,607 --> 00:41:51,204 This was the gIasshouse where they did a Iot of the fiIming because of aII the naturaI Iight. 601 00:41:51,287 --> 00:41:55,166 I think the gIasshouse was just down there on the shingIe. 602 00:41:55,567 --> 00:42:00,163 And the studio rest and the bungaIows were aII aIong the shingIe aIong here. 603 00:42:00,287 --> 00:42:03,279 -So there was a HoIIywood by the sea. -Yes, I think it was. 604 00:42:03,367 --> 00:42:06,439 What did your mum taIk about when you got her onto the subject? 605 00:42:06,527 --> 00:42:08,995 She taIked a IittIe bit about The Mayor of Casterbridge 606 00:42:09,087 --> 00:42:13,205 and that they went over to Dorchester to meet Thomas Hardy, who watched the set. 607 00:42:13,287 --> 00:42:15,960 -ReaIIy? Thomas Hardy? -Yes, Thomas Hardy. 608 00:42:16,127 --> 00:42:17,480 Fantastic. 609 00:42:17,687 --> 00:42:21,077 I wonder how he feIt when he was seeing his book being adapted. 610 00:42:21,247 --> 00:42:24,398 I think he was pretty pIeased with it, and about my mum, he said, 611 00:42:24,487 --> 00:42:29,686 -''Mavis CIaire, she is my EIizabeth.'' -ReaIIy? So he name-checked her personaIIy. 612 00:42:29,767 --> 00:42:30,836 Yes. 613 00:42:32,327 --> 00:42:36,445 Most of the Progress Company's features have been lost, but luckily 614 00:42:36,687 --> 00:42:39,360 The Mayor of Casterbridge has survived. 615 00:42:41,647 --> 00:42:46,323 And as an added bonus, I've got GiIIian's mum's copy of the originaI script, 616 00:42:46,487 --> 00:42:48,443 compIete with director's notes. 617 00:42:48,527 --> 00:42:49,516 Look at that! 618 00:42:49,607 --> 00:42:52,440 Thomas Hardy handIed this script. 619 00:42:52,527 --> 00:42:54,119 And now I've got it. 620 00:42:56,087 --> 00:42:58,965 But for our film-making experiment, the first thing I need 621 00:42:59,047 --> 00:43:01,322 to get to grips with is the camera. 622 00:43:01,887 --> 00:43:03,878 This Iooks more Iike a bit of furniture than a camera, John. 623 00:43:03,967 --> 00:43:06,356 Yes, this goes back to the 1920's. 624 00:43:06,447 --> 00:43:09,405 Early cinema enthusiast John Adderley is going to help me. 625 00:43:09,487 --> 00:43:11,682 It's the gauge that Edison patented. 626 00:43:11,767 --> 00:43:13,564 For Iining up, what you do is 627 00:43:13,647 --> 00:43:18,357 you puII it round to that position there and you can see there's a viewing system 628 00:43:18,447 --> 00:43:22,486 -and you can actuaIIy Iook through the Iens. -And it's upside down. 629 00:43:22,567 --> 00:43:24,603 -Yes, yes. -Of course, yes. 630 00:43:25,167 --> 00:43:28,204 And, see, that's aII the gubbins in here. 631 00:43:28,487 --> 00:43:31,479 So gorgeous, though. Look at it. 632 00:43:34,447 --> 00:43:36,915 We've assembIed our cast of IocaI actors, 633 00:43:37,007 --> 00:43:40,443 but there'II be no reIaxing in the Winnebago for them. 634 00:43:40,527 --> 00:43:43,325 Just as in 1920, we've no eIectric Iights, 635 00:43:43,767 --> 00:43:47,396 so we must make the most of the dayIight. 636 00:43:47,487 --> 00:43:49,318 AII we need now is a director. 637 00:43:50,247 --> 00:43:51,885 That wouId be me. 638 00:43:53,927 --> 00:43:57,715 Okay everyone. SiIence pIease. We're going to do a scene now. 639 00:43:57,807 --> 00:44:01,436 First positions, pIease. Mr Henchard sitting down. Thank you. 640 00:44:03,047 --> 00:44:04,400 That's good. Keep going. 641 00:44:04,487 --> 00:44:06,682 I have to get the cranking just right, 642 00:44:06,767 --> 00:44:11,557 a constant 16 frames a second, otherwise the action will appear jerky, 643 00:44:12,127 --> 00:44:13,879 unlike the original. 644 00:44:16,527 --> 00:44:19,166 We're burning dayIight here, you know. 645 00:44:20,327 --> 00:44:21,680 And...action! 646 00:44:23,807 --> 00:44:27,482 And if you're wondering about the bizarre make-up, so am I. 647 00:44:28,127 --> 00:44:31,802 The fiIm was auto-chromatic. It wasn't sensitive to reds. 648 00:44:31,887 --> 00:44:35,118 It's more sensitive to bIue, so bIue comes out quite Iight, 649 00:44:35,207 --> 00:44:39,280 and red goes absoIuteIy bIack, so that's why we put the bIue on the Iips 650 00:44:39,367 --> 00:44:41,039 and around the eyes. 651 00:44:41,127 --> 00:44:44,437 So, on auto-chromatic fiIm they wiII Iook a good deaI more IifeIike and reaIistic 652 00:44:44,527 --> 00:44:47,724 -than they do to the naked eye. -Yes, yes, hopefuIIy. 653 00:44:47,807 --> 00:44:51,800 We're moving the camera. Haven't got aII day. 654 00:44:51,887 --> 00:44:56,881 It's time to put George Smith's ideas into action and get a new angle on the scene. 655 00:44:58,367 --> 00:45:01,404 It's an involved process, setting up a new shot. 656 00:45:01,487 --> 00:45:05,605 I can see why many early film-makers didn't move the camera at all. 657 00:45:08,447 --> 00:45:10,722 -A bit faster. -And action! 658 00:45:10,807 --> 00:45:14,959 But on the plus side, as this is a silent movie, I don't have to be. 659 00:45:15,607 --> 00:45:19,282 And Susan, step into the gap. And cut! 660 00:45:20,927 --> 00:45:23,282 That was good. Yeah, yeah, 'cause you Iet it... 661 00:45:23,367 --> 00:45:26,040 That's the first time you've said that. 662 00:45:27,167 --> 00:45:29,806 There we go. I've wrapped my first movie. Great fun. 663 00:45:29,887 --> 00:45:32,526 The most satisfying part was that it was hand-cranked. 664 00:45:32,607 --> 00:45:35,599 You got a real sense of the moment being recorded. 665 00:45:36,367 --> 00:45:38,801 It's definiteIy the future for me. 666 00:45:40,567 --> 00:45:43,127 We've rushed the film to the labs for developing. 667 00:45:43,207 --> 00:45:45,675 And at the end of the day, like the early pioneers, 668 00:45:45,767 --> 00:45:47,997 we nervously check our rushes. 669 00:45:50,047 --> 00:45:53,801 Only the whole of Brighton seems to have been invited along. 670 00:45:58,967 --> 00:46:01,117 Look at that cIose-up, Iook! 671 00:46:08,607 --> 00:46:11,963 The cranking seems to have worked as the action is smooth. 672 00:46:12,047 --> 00:46:14,880 The light is good, too, and that auto-chromatic film 673 00:46:14,967 --> 00:46:17,959 has made the blue make-up look almost natural. 674 00:46:20,447 --> 00:46:21,516 Aw. 675 00:46:23,567 --> 00:46:27,162 Eighty years on from the original, it's still a crowd puller. 676 00:46:27,647 --> 00:46:30,002 Fantastic, weII done. 677 00:46:53,167 --> 00:46:57,524 Selsey Bill. Its shallows and riptides have made it treacherous 678 00:46:57,607 --> 00:46:59,677 for shipping for centuries. 679 00:47:00,647 --> 00:47:05,482 As a result, much of the history of this headland lies at the bottom of the sea. 680 00:47:09,087 --> 00:47:13,638 But these divers from Southsea Sub Aqua Club aren't hunting for shipwrecks. 681 00:47:16,007 --> 00:47:20,125 They're in search of shells, World War II shells. 682 00:47:23,687 --> 00:47:26,520 And the tanks that never got to fire them. 683 00:47:28,527 --> 00:47:31,883 There are two tanks and two buIIdozers from D-day. 684 00:47:32,287 --> 00:47:35,279 They didn't actuaIIy make it across to the Normandy beaches. 685 00:47:35,367 --> 00:47:40,236 And we're trying to find out the type of tanks that they are, 686 00:47:40,327 --> 00:47:43,876 and aIso how they ended up Iying on the seabed. 687 00:47:44,847 --> 00:47:49,523 There are around 20 officially protected wreck sites along this stretch of coast, 688 00:47:49,607 --> 00:47:53,885 much of the initial measuring and recording done by amateur divers. 689 00:47:56,007 --> 00:47:59,477 Most recreationaI divers, they go down to dive to just have a pIeasant time, 690 00:47:59,567 --> 00:48:02,559 to enjoy themseIves and hopefuIIy, obviousIy, come back safe and sound. 691 00:48:02,647 --> 00:48:06,640 These guys have actuaIIy chaIIenged themseIves to do a job of work 692 00:48:06,727 --> 00:48:09,116 and they're doing it reaIIy weII. 693 00:48:11,047 --> 00:48:13,515 And, finally, they find those shells. 694 00:48:14,127 --> 00:48:15,606 Intended for D-day, 695 00:48:15,687 --> 00:48:19,236 they've been at the bottom of the sea for more than 60 years. 696 00:48:21,487 --> 00:48:26,959 Just coming up shouId be the metaI round pIates, which says that they're Centaurs. 697 00:48:27,407 --> 00:48:29,875 There it is, there we go, definiteIy. 698 00:48:30,007 --> 00:48:32,157 So there's your identification. 699 00:48:32,247 --> 00:48:35,080 OLIVER: These Centaur tanks are pinpointed, 700 00:48:35,167 --> 00:48:38,443 recorded and put on the map of the British coastline 701 00:48:38,527 --> 00:48:40,836 to become part of our maritime history. 702 00:48:49,607 --> 00:48:53,077 Approaching Portsmouth, looking out over the Solent, 703 00:48:53,407 --> 00:48:56,126 a reminder of the start of our journey. 704 00:48:57,487 --> 00:48:58,806 Sea forts 705 00:49:00,567 --> 00:49:02,080 and hovercraft. 706 00:49:03,407 --> 00:49:05,967 The UK's only regular passenger service 707 00:49:06,047 --> 00:49:07,878 flies just above the sea 708 00:49:07,967 --> 00:49:09,958 out to the Isle of Wight. 709 00:49:11,047 --> 00:49:15,598 On this restless coastline everything's on the move, even the land. 710 00:49:17,327 --> 00:49:20,239 The Isle of Wight seems so permanent and immoveable, 711 00:49:20,327 --> 00:49:23,717 and yet it's on a monumental journey. 712 00:49:24,247 --> 00:49:28,479 Nick Crane's crossing the Solent in search of where the island's been 713 00:49:28,567 --> 00:49:31,320 and what's happened to it along the way. 714 00:49:36,087 --> 00:49:40,046 CRANE: Sailing around the Isle of Wight, you get some sense of its size. 715 00:49:40,527 --> 00:49:44,202 At 23 miles across, it's England's largest island. 716 00:49:47,287 --> 00:49:52,759 It seems like a lost world. In fact, it's a time capsule containing clues 717 00:49:52,847 --> 00:49:56,556 to a journey the whole of the British Isles has been on. 718 00:49:57,607 --> 00:50:02,840 On a lost world you'd hope to find dinosaurs, and you wouldn't be disappointed. 719 00:50:04,887 --> 00:50:07,242 This is a dinosaur footprint. 720 00:50:07,327 --> 00:50:09,557 The beach is absoIuteIy Iittered with them. 721 00:50:09,647 --> 00:50:13,083 They've faIIen out of the cIiff above me as the sea has eroded. 722 00:50:13,527 --> 00:50:15,643 It beIongs to a four- or five-ton iguana, 723 00:50:15,727 --> 00:50:18,002 and, Iook, you can see one articuIated toe here. 724 00:50:18,087 --> 00:50:22,444 Here's another one. The third toe has been snapped off, and here is the heeI. 725 00:50:22,527 --> 00:50:27,317 These massive beasts tramped aIong this beach 130 miIIion years ago, 726 00:50:27,407 --> 00:50:30,365 except that, back then, this Iand wasn't even here. 727 00:50:32,047 --> 00:50:33,685 And that's because the Isle of Wight 728 00:50:33,767 --> 00:50:37,476 has been on the move for ages, geological ages. 729 00:50:39,287 --> 00:50:42,597 And the evidence of its epic voyage is everywhere. 730 00:50:44,647 --> 00:50:49,767 This chaIk is created from the remains of pIankton which died 78 miIIion years ago 731 00:50:49,927 --> 00:50:52,999 in a very warm, very cIear tropicaI sea. 732 00:50:56,247 --> 00:50:59,284 There certainly aren't tropical seas here now, 733 00:50:59,647 --> 00:51:03,560 so where was the Isle of Wight when the chalk was laid down? 734 00:51:04,207 --> 00:51:09,122 Well, a lot further south, and, at the time, it wasn't even an island. 735 00:51:10,607 --> 00:51:14,600 10,000 years ago, it was part of the landmass of Britain. 736 00:51:15,287 --> 00:51:21,078 Step back 10,000 more, and Britain was attached to the European mainland. 737 00:51:21,767 --> 00:51:27,558 But rewind a colossal 135 million years to the time of the dinosaurs, 738 00:51:27,647 --> 00:51:30,286 when the continents were a lot closer together, 739 00:51:30,367 --> 00:51:33,643 Europe was 1,000 miles further south than now. 740 00:51:37,207 --> 00:51:41,678 The Isle of Wight has seen a lot of action on its journey north, and, not surprisingly, 741 00:51:41,767 --> 00:51:44,600 has picked up a few knocks along the way. 742 00:51:45,887 --> 00:51:49,562 You can see the bruises from those knocks in the landscape. 743 00:51:51,127 --> 00:51:55,200 Overlooking the multicoloured cliffs at Allum Bay, geologist Alasdair Bruce 744 00:51:55,287 --> 00:51:57,437 is helping me get my eye in. 745 00:51:57,527 --> 00:52:00,883 What we're Iooking at it the huge foId in the Earth's crust. 746 00:52:00,967 --> 00:52:03,242 So, if I eIaborate by showing you this. 747 00:52:03,327 --> 00:52:05,636 That is essentiaIIy what we're Iooking at, end on. 748 00:52:05,727 --> 00:52:09,481 So this bit of the book is that peninsuIa sticking out into the sea? 749 00:52:09,567 --> 00:52:13,116 Yeah, those horizontaI beds in the distance, and as you come further into the bay 750 00:52:13,207 --> 00:52:17,086 and into the AIIum Sands themseIves, they've now been tiIted verticaIIy. 751 00:52:17,167 --> 00:52:20,364 -And that's the verticaI part. -That's the centre of the... 752 00:52:20,447 --> 00:52:21,846 -This bit here. -Indeed. 753 00:52:21,927 --> 00:52:24,077 Okay. So what caused the fauIt? 754 00:52:24,167 --> 00:52:26,123 WeII, miIIions of years ago, when Africa sort of thundered 755 00:52:26,207 --> 00:52:27,845 into Europe to create the AIps. 756 00:52:27,927 --> 00:52:30,760 These are the pIates covering the surface of the pIanet that shift around. 757 00:52:30,847 --> 00:52:35,875 ConstantIy moving, and, as a resuIt of that coIIision, we aII had to make way, 758 00:52:35,967 --> 00:52:40,040 geoIogicaIIy speaking, and our contribution, in Britain, was this Iarge foId. 759 00:52:40,127 --> 00:52:43,119 And this essentiaIIy forms the backbone of the IsIe of Wight. 760 00:52:43,207 --> 00:52:46,802 SwitzerIand got the AIps, the IsIe of Wight got the foId. 761 00:52:47,407 --> 00:52:51,195 The chalk ridge running the length of the Isle of Wight is, in fact, 762 00:52:51,287 --> 00:52:56,486 the last ripple of a colossal shockwave, the result of a continental car crash 763 00:52:56,567 --> 00:53:00,196 between Africa and Europe 65 million years ago. 764 00:53:01,847 --> 00:53:06,477 But even that didn't dislodge the Isle of Wight from the mainland of Britain. 765 00:53:07,527 --> 00:53:12,203 And you can still see the evidence of where it was collected at the Needles. 766 00:53:15,087 --> 00:53:18,716 AIasdair, can you describe exactIy what we'd have seen 10,000 years ago, 767 00:53:18,807 --> 00:53:21,640 if we'd Iooked from here towards what is now Dorset? 768 00:53:21,727 --> 00:53:24,685 WeII, we'd have seen a Iine of white chaIk cIiffs, and behind that, 769 00:53:24,767 --> 00:53:27,679 you'd have had, sort of, cIiff tops covered in primitive grasses. 770 00:53:27,767 --> 00:53:30,918 And as you waIked back away from that, that sort of coastaI environment, 771 00:53:31,007 --> 00:53:33,077 you'd have waIked into ancient woodIands 772 00:53:33,447 --> 00:53:36,439 and sIowIy down to the shores of the estuary of the river SoIent. 773 00:53:36,527 --> 00:53:38,836 -Sounds Iike a paradise. -Indeed. 774 00:53:40,327 --> 00:53:44,002 So how did that woodland paradise become an island? 775 00:53:45,687 --> 00:53:49,680 20,000 years ago, Northern Europe and most of Britain was covered with 776 00:53:49,767 --> 00:53:52,884 a layer of glacial ice over a mile thick. 777 00:53:54,007 --> 00:53:58,523 It started to warm up. The ice melted and water levels rose. 778 00:53:58,607 --> 00:54:02,805 But that wasn't the only thing that helped create the Isle of Wight. 779 00:54:04,727 --> 00:54:09,926 The other process is best illustrated by two men with an inflatable bed. 780 00:54:10,367 --> 00:54:14,155 Okay, this is a primitive United Kingdom. We're going to have ScotIand at one end 781 00:54:14,247 --> 00:54:16,363 -and the IsIe of Wight on the other end. -So this is the north. 782 00:54:16,447 --> 00:54:18,438 It is, and it's very maIIeabIe, as you can see. 783 00:54:18,527 --> 00:54:21,837 So, you're saying that the surface of the pIanet reaIIy is this bendy in pIaces. 784 00:54:21,927 --> 00:54:25,476 Yes, geoIogicaIIy speaking. Now, 20,000 years ago, ScotIand was covered 785 00:54:25,567 --> 00:54:28,923 with two kiIometres thick of ice, an enormous amount of weight, 786 00:54:29,007 --> 00:54:31,396 and I want you to be that weight, so on you go. 787 00:54:31,487 --> 00:54:33,443 I'm ScotIand, covered in ice. 788 00:54:33,527 --> 00:54:37,998 If I bring in the IsIe of Wight, put that in pIace, then we wind the cIock forward 789 00:54:38,087 --> 00:54:41,159 to about 1 2,000 years ago, and the gIaciers are meIting away 790 00:54:41,247 --> 00:54:44,284 off ScotIand reaIIy rapidIy, so off you get... 791 00:54:45,447 --> 00:54:47,278 -It's dropped. -It sinks down a bit. 792 00:54:47,407 --> 00:54:51,844 That is caIIed isostatic rebound. But what's happened to the IsIe of Wight is, 793 00:54:51,927 --> 00:54:55,715 not onIy have we got sea IeveIs attacking it, sea-IeveI rise from aII the gIaciaI water 794 00:54:55,807 --> 00:54:59,641 going into the sea, but you've got the isostatic rebound happening. 795 00:54:59,727 --> 00:55:03,117 So the sea is now going to come churning around this particuIar Iump of rock 796 00:55:03,207 --> 00:55:05,596 and turn it into the IsIe of Wight that we see today. 797 00:55:05,687 --> 00:55:08,281 So it's being hit by a doubIe whammy. 798 00:55:08,887 --> 00:55:11,720 It was this combination of rising sea levels 799 00:55:11,807 --> 00:55:15,516 and the sinking landscape that would eventually separate the Isle of Wight 800 00:55:15,607 --> 00:55:17,359 from the mainland. 801 00:55:17,487 --> 00:55:21,321 The sea was rising, biting away at this chaIk cIiff, and at the same time 802 00:55:21,407 --> 00:55:24,717 the river SoIent doing its thing at the back, so there wouId come a point where it wouId 803 00:55:24,807 --> 00:55:29,437 become a very narrow, knife-edge bIade going out across the sea. 804 00:55:29,527 --> 00:55:31,722 And then finaIIy, one stormy night, it was breached, 805 00:55:31,807 --> 00:55:34,640 and the sea basicaIIy fIooded into this area 806 00:55:34,727 --> 00:55:37,560 and got rid of what was the river SoIent. 807 00:55:39,767 --> 00:55:41,598 It took a few thousand years 808 00:55:41,687 --> 00:55:45,646 before the Isle of Wight was totally cut off as we see it today, 809 00:55:46,167 --> 00:55:50,479 but that's a blink of the eye compared to its multi-million year trek. 810 00:55:51,207 --> 00:55:55,325 And this restless traveller is still moving, still evolving, 811 00:55:56,127 --> 00:56:00,245 part of the epic journey that the whole of the British Isles is on. 812 00:56:07,967 --> 00:56:11,960 OLIVER: At the end of my journey, I'm also off out to the Needles. 813 00:56:13,727 --> 00:56:18,323 It's not great conditions for studying rocks, but it is good for my passion. 814 00:56:18,607 --> 00:56:22,759 This is, after all, the sort of weather lighthouses were made for. 815 00:56:23,607 --> 00:56:26,075 And I enjoy a good lighthouse, me. 816 00:56:27,247 --> 00:56:31,365 So I couIdn't resist a visit to this one on the NeedIes, especiaIIy when I found out 817 00:56:31,447 --> 00:56:33,756 they're about to cIean the Iens. 818 00:56:39,407 --> 00:56:44,527 Everything about a lighthouse reminds us that we are connected to other shores. 819 00:56:46,287 --> 00:56:48,596 As we come to the end of this leg of our journey, 820 00:56:48,687 --> 00:56:53,238 I'm struck by how much we have reached out across the water. 821 00:56:53,647 --> 00:56:55,877 From flying the Channel in hovercrafts 822 00:56:56,487 --> 00:57:00,799 to the ideas of Brighton's film-makers that travelled around the globe. 823 00:57:02,127 --> 00:57:05,517 We're surrounded by water, but we're not cut off by it. 824 00:57:07,167 --> 00:57:10,523 Even the specialist lens used in lighthouses is an invention 825 00:57:10,607 --> 00:57:13,201 from across the Channel, from France. 826 00:57:14,647 --> 00:57:18,003 -How often does the Iens get cIeaned, then? -Just once a year. 827 00:57:18,087 --> 00:57:23,115 It's going to take about that Iong. I'd hate to be responsibIe for a smear. 828 00:57:27,687 --> 00:57:32,556 This reaIIy does feeI Iike the edge of Britain, but of course the Iight from here 829 00:57:32,647 --> 00:57:37,482 continues on, traveIIing far beyond our shores and actuaIIy crossing the beam 830 00:57:37,607 --> 00:57:40,405 of the GatteviIIe Iighthouse on the French coast. 831 00:57:40,487 --> 00:57:42,717 Even the Iight wants to bridge the gap. 832 00:57:42,807 --> 00:57:46,402 It kind of makes you want to reach out yourseIf and meet the neighbours. 833 00:57:47,967 --> 00:57:53,325 And, next time, that's exactly what we're doing, going beyond our coast to Normandy. 834 00:57:54,327 --> 00:57:56,522 Alice has packed her paints. 835 00:57:57,527 --> 00:57:58,801 Dick's doing the driving. 836 00:57:58,887 --> 00:58:01,685 The oId haIf-track is getting through there, aII right. 837 00:58:02,767 --> 00:58:04,962 And Mark's building a castle. 838 00:58:05,047 --> 00:58:07,277 That's compIeteIy exhausting.