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Every day in the seas around the UK and Ireland, an army of unpaid volunteers put their lives on the line to save those of others. Saving Lives at Sea tells the story of the ordinary men and women of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) who are ready to answer their pager’s call and race to the rescue of those in trouble, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, whatever the weather. Using footage shot on the crews’ own cameras, this series takes us into the heart of the action, capturing the unpredictable work of the RNLI in unique detail.

When the RNLI was founded in 1824 most of those they saved from the sea were fisherman and commercial sailors, but over the years as more and more Brits take to our waters for pleasure purposes, more and more of their calls have been to leisure users in trouble. In Newquay the lifeboat crew are called one of the many ship wrecks lying on the sea bed off the Cornish coast, where a diver has been found unconscious without his mouthpiece over 30 metres under the waves.

In one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the Dover Strait, a yacht taking on water calls for help. The crew of the Dover lifeboat race to reach them before they sink or are hit by one of the large cargo ships racing through the Channel. Meanwhile in Mudeford on the Dorset coast the crew and their lifeboat are pushed to their limits as they launch into storm conditions to search for a windsurfer in trouble.