Coast (TV series) Information

Coast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. A second series started on 26 October 2006, a third in early 2007 and a fourth in mid-2009. It covers various subjects relating to both the natural and social history of the British coastline and also more recently, that of Britains near neighbours. A fifth series was aired in 2010, followed by a sixth in 2011. A seventh series aired in 2012 and followed a different format from previous series. Series eight started in 2013 while series nine aired in 2014 and series ten in 2015.

The series is a collaboration between the Open University and BBC Productions, Birmingham.

In December 2013, the first reversion of the series format, Coast Australia, was screened on the History Channel in Australia. Hosted by Neil Oliver, it was the second highest rating show in the history of the channel. It started airing on BBC Two from 14 May 2014; series 2 was aired in 2015. Coast New Zealand aired in 2016. A similar show, Arfordir Cymru (Wales Coast), is broadcast on the Welsh-language broadcaster S4C and hosted by Bedwyr Rees; three series have aired so far, each of six 23-minute-long episodes, travelling in Pembrokeshire (2014), Llŷn Peninsula (2015) and Cardigan Bay (2017).

The original presenters, and their fields of interest, are:

The original presenters have formed the backbone of the presenting team; however Alice Roberts left the Coast team after the end of the sixth series.

Several other presenters have also become regulars after originally appearing on a one-off basis:

Series 1 started at the White Cliffs of Dover and progressed in a clockwise fashion around the coast of Great Britain (with a side trip to Northern Ireland). Series 2 again started at Dover but subsequent episodes did not follow series one in circumnavigating the UK coast, instead featuring various locations, including sections of the coast of the Republic of Ireland. Series 4 reintroduced the circular element, starting at Whitstable and ending at Hull, though with visits to Ireland, Normandy and Norway included as well. The format of the seventh series abandoned the geographical element and instead each episode focused on a particular theme and featured locations from around the British Isles.All but one of the episodes in the first series ended with Nicholas Crane stating that in the British Isles, "Remember, you are never more than 72 miles from the sea!" Neil Oliver closed the fifth series with the same statement.

Series 4 onwards were simulcast on the BBC HD channel.

Extracts from the programme are often used as filler items on BBC Two, for example following a fifty-minute documentary programme such as The Natural World or Horizon, to allow the next full programme to begin on the hour. As the aerial shots from the Coast programmes are made in high-definition, they are also used in this way on BBC HD.

Episodes from old series have been shown on Yesterday.

Series 5 was shown overseas (e.g. in New Zealand on the Living Channel) before being shown on the BBC.

Series 1 to 5 of Coast have been released on Region 2 DVD by Contender Home Entertainment, or, following their acquisition, by E1 Entertainment. Series 6 onwards have been released on Region 2 DVD and Region B Blu-ray by Acorn Media UK.

Numerous box sets have been released, including one which packaged Series 1 with another BBC documentary, A Picture of Britain.

The first series of Coast was originally aired on BBC2 during the summer of 2005. The series follows a circumnavigation of the coastline, starting and finishing in Dover.

Lead presenter Nicholas Crane remarks on more than one occasion during the series that it was a "once-in-a-lifetime journey" suggesting that Coast was originally planned as a one-off series, although subsequent series did not follow the same "journey round the coast of Britain" approach, but concentrated on stories from various areas, including overseas. Series 1 is the only series yet to include more than eight episodes. A review episode was shown on 2 September 2005, looking back over the series highlights, and looking at the future of the coastline — this is not included in the DVD release for the series.

The second series of Coast was originally aired on BBC2 during the autumn of 2006. Whilst the series starts in Dover and finishes in nearby Margate, it does not follow same circular journey of the previous series. It is the first series to feature a foreign shoreline, that of the Republic of Ireland.

The subtitle of the series is The Journey Continues.

The third series of Coast was originally aired on BBC2 during the summer of 2007. In common with the previous series, the journey does not follow a circular course; the series starts in Shetland and finishes in Dover.

The subtitle of the series is A Journey of Discovery.

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