BBC - Coast Series 9 (2014) Part 1 The Channel

Coast: Series 9

Coast continues to uncover the secrets of our shores, through untold tales of explorers from as far apart as Cornwall and Australia; it reveals little-known gems, including a coastal walk that takes in the history of Britain; investigates the clandestine sex trade that scandalised Victorian Britain and decimated the Royal Navy; discovers how Greenwich became the global centre of sea navigation and reveals what becomes of our coast in winter. Coast also crosses the Atlantic to find out why Nova Scotia, in Canada, appealed to its Scottish settlers, and it ventures to the French channel coast to unearth its connection with the birth of Britain's Ordnance Survey maps.

Part 1: The Channel

The team returns to explore more locations on UK shores and far beyond, beginning by examining stories from both sides of the English Channel. Nick Crane is on the French coast to experience the secret life of hilltop monastery Mont St Michel and visits the historic walled citadel of St Malo, where a network of sea forts foiled repeated raids by the Royal Navy. Neil Oliver investigates how the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi in 1917 became a potent symbol of racial inequality in post-apartheid South Africa, while Mark Horton reveals how 18th-century French mapmakers unwittingly gave birth to Britain's Ordnance Survey.

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