Saving lives at Sea behind the scenes

Saving Lives At Sea tells the story of the volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards of the RNLI who rescue thousands of people and save hundreds of lives around our coastline and on the River Thames every year. Every day around the UK and Ireland, the lifesavers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) put their lives on the line to try and save complete strangers. Saving Lives At Sea tells the story of the volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards of the RNLI who rescue thousands of people and save hundreds of lives around our coastline and on the River Thames every year. Using footage filmed with lifeboat crews and lifeguards carrying cameras, and welcoming film-makers into their everyday lives, this series take us right into the heart of the action, capturing the unpredictable work of the RNLI in never-before-seen detail. In the first episode a father and daughter find themselves treading water for almost an hour, hundreds of metres out at sea after being swept out by a rip current. In Kinsale, Ireland, three fishermen swim for their lives as their trawler is smashed onto rocks. And in London, an unlucky tourist is minutes from hypothermia after his attempt to take a selfie lands him in the Thames.