Saving Lives at Sea
Saving Lives at Sea is a documentary on BBC1. Ordinary people, extraordinary bravery. From trawlers in peril to struggling swimmers, meet the army of RNLI volunteers working to save those in danger - whatever the weather. The program has been available since 2025. A total of 28 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in November 2026.
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Saving Lives at Sea
The Porthcawl crew’s training night is disrupted when a call comes from a dog walker who has spotted a surfer in trouble below the cliffs at Rest Bay.
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58:48In Queensferry, near Glasgow, an American visitor is caught out by the tide - and is barely conscious when the RNLI crew drag him out of the water.
Series 11
On the Northumberland coast, a 999 call comes in from a woman whose husband is drifting out to sea on a paddleboard; it’s a race against time for the Seahouses crew to find him.
A teenage boy rushes to help save a paralysed surfer from drowning. When a 999 call comes in, the Appledore crew are tasked with an immediate launch.
A French yacht has made a mayday call after suffering mechanical failure near Jersey. The St Helier crew must rescue the vessel before it drifts onto a notoriously treacherous reef.
In Watergate Bay, one of Cornwall’s surfing hotspots, two teenage boys are caught in one of the beach’s notorious rip currents.
Series 9 1:00:00
1:00:00In Dungeness, the crew are called out to a small boat in the middle of the shipping lanes - and discover the casualty is the subject of a major manhunt.
Series 11
When a kayaker calls a friend to say she’s in trouble out at sea, the line suddenly goes dead; the Happisburgh crew find her over a mile off shore, face down and unresponsive.
A mayday comes in from a French yacht 16 miles west of St Helier, in the Channel Islands; on board are two teenage girls whose father is unconscious.
The Newbiggin crew race to the rescue of three children who have been swept out to sea on a small inflatable dinghy.
When a mayday comes in from a yacht breaking up off the Norfolk coast, both the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston RNLI crew and Caister’s independent lifeboats race to the rescue.
The Porthcawl crew respond to a 999 call about a local fisherman who’s fallen overboard. As they discover the casualty’s identity, their search becomes increasingly desperate.
Series 10
The Newhaven crew make a desperate attempt to rescue a yachtsman before his vessel is smashed on the rocks.
With a storm battering the south coast of England, a windsurfer is in trouble. The Portsmouth crew have to decide whether it’s even safe for them to launch.
A ten-year-old boy has been swept out to sea on a paddleboard. The North Berwick crew race to his rescue.
Series 6
The lifeboat volunteers pluck a fallen climber out of the sea in Wales, and in Scotland they rescue a 170-ton fishing boat that’s perilously close to the rocks in gale force winds.
Series 7
In Eastbourne, on the Sussex coast, a routine day at the lifeboat station changes in an instant when a boat catches fire just outside the harbour.
Series 9
In Porthcawl, on the south west coast of Wales, the crew receive a call about a swimmer who’s been swept out to sea in a rip current as his wife and son watch on helplessly.
On the north Somerset coast, the Minehead crew come close to disaster in a challenging rescue of two walkers cut off by the tide.
In Mudeford, on the Dorset coast, a search for a missing kayaker quickly escalates when it emerges that there are six more kayaks unaccounted for.