Eye of the storm
SAVING LIVES AT SEA BBC2, 8pm
RISKING their lives in the roughest weather while searching for people who may only have moments to live, lifeboat crews are among our nation’s heroes.
This gripping series tells the story of the army of unpaid volunteers who put their lives on the line to work for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
Their pagers could buzz at any moment, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and they will drop everything and race to the rescue. Footage shot on the crews’ own cameras makes this particularly dramatic as it takes us to the heart of the action, along with revealing interviews.
It begins with a Mayday call to a fisherman, who has been pulled to the bottom of the sea, trapped in his own fishing gear.
There’s also a devastating fire on a boat 15 miles out in the Channel.
But one particular story is both shocking and emotional. Crews in Anglesey are called to the rescue of a father and his 13-year-old son missing at sea. Paul and Joe had been kayaking when their boat took in water and they capsized.
They decided to try to swim to shore, but with hypothermia already setting in, dad Paul passed out in the water.
“I saw he was unconscious so I jumped back in and dragged him to the island and gave him CPR,” says Joe, who says he thought they were both going to die.
A story of survival and bravery that will leave you in floods of tears.