Europe From Above (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - United Kingdom - full transcript
NARRATOR: The United Kingdom.
From a unique aerial view,
we will show four countries
that come together as one nation.
Thousand-year-old traditions.
One of a kind engineering marvels.
The UK is a population of innovators
who forged the modern world.
In this series, we'll take an aerial tour
across Europe,
seeing its sights
from a brand new perspective.
Filmed from above
and over the course of a single year,
as the landscape transforms
through the changing seasons,
we will uncover the culture,
history, and engineering
that built the great
European nations we see today.
The Untied Kingdom
is an island nation
in Northwestern Europe.
Separated from the mainland
by the English Channel,
the UK has forged its own path
from the rest of the continent.
It's made up of England, Scotland,
Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Each country has its own unique landscape,
culture and sense of identity.
It's April, and across the nation
the weather is warming up.
Trees shrug off their snowy blankets
and fill their branches with blossom...
as spring comes to the UK.
In England's capital, London,
it's as busy as ever.
A bird's-eye view
reveals how this 2,000-year-old city
is densely packed with unique architecture
and engineering wonders
seen nowhere else on Earth.
The Houses of Parliament,
the nation's seat of government.
St. Paul's Cathedral,
renowned for its iconic
30-meter wide dome.
Tower Bridge, the city's world-famous
suspension draw bridge.
From high above the clouds,
London appears huge.
A sprawling metropolis stretching around
50 kilometers across.
It's home to around nine million people.
Zooming in on the city's heart
reveals a cluster of high tech buildings
that soar above
London's traditional landmarks.
These are the towering skyscrapers
of London's famous financial district.
Each stunning new mega structure
has a uniquely engineered form.
Perhaps the most striking
is the giant glass clad
Leadenhall Building,
famous for its unusual
wedge-shaped design.
This breathtaking structure
is 225 meters tall.
Its steel core weighs almost 18,000 tons.
And 4,220 glass panels
cover its angled facade.
Pawel Urban is more familiar than most
with the Leadenhall Building's
shining glass panels
because it rests on his shoulders
to clean them.
I prefer to doing this job
when it's sunshine like this.
Nice weather.
NARRATOR: Today, Pawel and his crew
are cleaning the Leadenhall Building.
To do this, the team uses
a specially designed mechanical arm
which carries a metal cradle
down the side of the building.
But the team can only go over the edge
when the wind speed
is less than 40 kilometers per hour.
This is to make sure
the cradle doesn't swing precariously
in the strong breeze and damage the glass
or come detached
from the crane altogether.
The wind has been howling
at over 50 kilometers per hour all morning
but the crew notice a lull in the weather.
URBAN: Not windy.
Only three miles.
NARRATOR: The team get the go-ahead
to begin their extraordinary descent
down the face of the glass skyscraper,
but they need to work quickly
to make the most of this lucky break
in the weather.
URBAN: The first time
when I was in the cradle,
I was very scared but now I'm all right.
NARRATOR: Aerial cameras reveal
this extraordinary process up close.
Unchecked, the further
the cradle drops on its cables,
the more it risks swinging in the wind.
So architects built this skyscraper
with seven channels
running down the south face
of the building.
The cradle has specially designed rails
that lock into these channels.
The rails help stop the cradle
blowing in the wind.
But as the hours tick by,
spring's unpredictable weather
starts to turn.
URBAN: Sometimes it's very windy
and we have to go up quick
'cause it's very dangerous for us.
NARRATOR:
With the wind picking up further,
Pawel and his team
finish their last window.
They've managed to complete
two sections of the building
in the short time they've been cleaning.
But with the Leadenhall Building's
4,220 panes of glass,
it's a full-time job
to keep the city's skyline glistening.
URBAN: Well, see the windows.
We are on ground floor.
Nice and shiny.
Nice and clean.
So I'm very proud and happy.
We're doing a good job.
NARRATOR: As London's daredevil
window cleaners climb down from their rig,
across the Irish Sea
it's time for another
mega-sized spring clean.
Northern Ireland
is the United Kingdom's smallest country.
Belfast, the country's capital,
is a port city steeped in history.
Home to the world-famous
launch site of the Titanic.
Northern Ireland is a land
of epic landscapes
from rugged countryside
to mythical coastlines.
On its northeast coast,
in County Antrim,
sits a natural wonder.
This jet-black shoreline
is called the Causeway Coast.
It's a 60-million-year-old
geological marvel.
A bird's-eye view reveals
a world-famous part of this coastline
called the Giant's Causeway.
It's a bizarre lattice of around 40,000
60-million-year-old
interlocking hexagonal pillars.
The Giant's Causeway is Northern Ireland's
most visited tourist attraction.
But because it's near
the busy shipping lanes
of the Atlantic and Irish Sea,
the coastline encounters
a lot of marine debris.
This means that every year,
the Causeway Coast
is in need of a spring clean.
ETHERSON: Today we're gonna see
what we can do
at removing a lot of the plastic
that's in the bays here
at the Giant's Causeway.
NARRATOR: Barry Etherson
is a local water sports instructor.
He's part of a dedicated group
of volunteers
who clear up unsightly marine rubbish
from the Causeway Coastline.
Today, Barry and the team
aim to clear four kilometers of coastline
around the Giant's Causeway.
Picking up everything
from nylon fishing nets and car tires
to plastic oil drums and even flip flops.
But the seaweed and hidden rocks
make it too dangerous
for boats to get close enough.
So the team turn to jet skis.
The final few meters
are too shallow even for the jet skis.
So the volunteers must swim
the last stretch.
Careful to avoid the biggest waves
smashing against the rocky outcrop.
According to local legend,
a giant called Finn McCool
built these pillars
as a bridge to Scotland.
In truth, the Giant's Causeway
is the result of a volcanic eruption
sixty million years ago.
As lava bubbled out of the ground here,
it hit the sea where it cooled quickly,
cracking to form the perfect
hexagonal-shaped basalt pillars
we see today.
It takes Barry's team around six hours
to collect more than 500 kilos of litter.
(Barry grunts)
(yells)
Now, they need to get their haul
back to the boat.
Barry and the volunteers
edge their litter sacks to the shoreline.
The team need to scramble back
to the jet skis
fully laden with their bags of waste.
A lot of the big sacks,
they-- they catch and everything.
They get caught
in the barnacles and limpets.
Yeah, it's just brute force really.
Egging each other on.
NARRATOR: Clearing the area of litter
is about more than just safeguarding
this region's extraordinary aesthetics,
it's about keeping
the ecosystem healthy, too.
ETHERSON: Plastics break down
into micro plastics.
That gets into the fish.
It gets into, inadvertently, people.
NARRATOR: The volunteers load the trailer
with their final haul.
They've managed to collect
an impressive 545 kilos of rubbish.
Today's effort has helped preserve
this iconic coastline
in time for the influx of summer tourists.
ETHERSON: There's a lot of people here
who care.
We appreciate it for its beauty.
We work here.
You kinda hope it stays beautiful.
This is a very busy part of the world.
A lot of people come here.
For everybody to enjoy.
NARRATOR: It's the beginning of June
and the temperature across the nation
starts to rise.
Once empty beaches fill with tourists,
as holiday makers flock to the seaside.
Summer has arrived in the UK.
In this warm, glowing weather,
England's south coast fills with tourists
seeking a traditional family break.
From the white chalk cliffs of Dover,
to Dorset's Jurassic Coast,
these picture-perfect bays
echo to the sound
of an engineering masterpiece
that changed the world.
In the 19th century, British engineers
invented and perfected the steam railway.
They laid more than 32,000 kilometers
of track across the British Isles,
revolutionizing transport.
On the South Devon Coast
lies perhaps the most
beautiful railway line
Britain's industrial innovators
ever conceived.
This is the Dartmouth Heritage Railway.
It's 11 kilometers of line
stretching from Paignton in the north
to Kingswear in the south.
The railway offers nostalgic tourists
a brief taste of a bygone age.
It's up to Ian Wellington
to keep the railway's collection
of vintage steam trains
in perfect running order.
Each of these machines
has its own unique character and nuances.
WELLINGTON: Some people say
they've got a personality.
They are living and breathing
because of how they work
and the way they sound.
NARRATOR: These vintage machines
run on hot steam
held at incredibly high pressures.
The six engines in Ian's care
have a collective age of over 500 years.
So it takes all of Ian's
35 years of experience
to keep the locomotives
from breaking down.
You're responsible
for the train that the people are in
so you've got to understand
what you're doing,
what can go wrong.
NARRATOR:
It's time to board the passengers
and stoke the furnace
which sits inside the train's boiler.
The hot furnace turns the water
surrounding it into high pressure steam.
A pipe at the top of the boiler
then diverts the steam to twin pistons
which sit either side of the front wheels.
As the pistons fill with steam,
they drive the wheels forward.
This line includes
a half-kilometer long tunnel
and the magnificent Hooks Hill viaduct,
designed by world renowned
British industrial engineer,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Finally, Kingswear.
A picturesque fishing village
crammed with boats.
The steam train has completed
a full run with no problems
and all its vintage parts
have made it in one piece.
For Ian, that's a triumph.
Hopefully, I've done a good job
and I can go and have a cup of tea.
(laughs)
NARRATOR: It's testament to Ian
and his team's care and attention
that this little part of British heritage
is being kept alive
for future generations to enjoy.
As well as carving a railway network
into the nation's countryside,
Britain's pioneering industrial engineers
built another transport legacy
that lives on today.
In July, the midsummer heat
spreads across the UK.
From the south coast of England
to the United Kingdom's
most northern country, Scotland.
Here, hikers take to the highlands
to explore some of
the UK's tallest mountains
as the summer thaw
melts away the snowy peaks.
In Scotland's south,
the vibrant cities of Glasgow
and the country's capital, Edinburgh,
throng with tourists there to soak up
the art and culture on offer.
Those that want to escape
the hustle and bustle
take to the canals
for a tranquil weekend on the water.
The whole of the United Kingdom
is crisscrossed
with more than 3,000 kilometers
of man-made waterways.
Engineers built these canals
in the 18th and 19th century
to power the industrial revolution.
Today, they're used for pleasure.
Scotland has two major canals
that run between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
They meet in the middle,
at a town called Falkirk.
From above, the two canals
appear to join as one.
But a closer look reveals a problem.
The undulating Scottish landscape means
that there is a 35-meter vertical drop
between the two canals.
So how do you travel
between two waterways
on completely different levels?
Inventive engineers
devise an ingenious solution.
The world's only rotating boat lift,
the Falkirk Wheel.
Before this machine was opened in 2002,
it would take weary boaters
a day's heavy work
to travel between the two canals,
opening and closing
44 lock gates along the way.
Today, the Falkirk Wheel can transport
barges up and down between the canals
in just four and a half minutes.
Peter Robinson is the head engineer
for Scottish Canals.
It's Peter's job
to ensure the smooth running
of this £17.5 million engineering marvel.
For me to be responsible
for trying to look after it
is just superb.
I think some days,
I've got the best job in the world.
NARRATOR: Today, Peter and his colleagues
have seven hours
to coordinate the movement of 25 boats
up and down between the two canals.
At each end of the waterway,
the first boats of the day
start to arrive.
The skippers steer their barges
into water tight gondolas
at each end of the wheel.
Peter's colleagues in the operation room
close the hydraulic gates
and set the wheel turning.
Ten hydraulic motors work together
to power an enormous gear
that turns the central axle.
This raises one of the 300-ton gondolas
into the air
while lowering the other.
As the wheel rotates,
each of the gondolas remains upright
thanks to a simple series of giant cogs.
ROBINSON: It's just phenomenal
the number of people that are coming along
and reliably we just bring them through.
It's just engineering at its best.
NARRATOR: In each turn, the engine
only uses the same amount of energy
as eight boiling kettles.
For the wheel to run this efficiently
the weight of the two gondolas
needs to be exactly the same at all times.
But luckily that's not as hard
as it sounds,
thanks to a handy quirk of physics.
When a boat enters either gondola,
it displaces its own weight
in water exactly.
This means the two ends of the lift
remain in perfect balance
whether they're empty or full of boats.
ROBINSON: It's complex yet simple.
Whatever goes in displaces water
and therefore the two gondolas
on the wheel remain balanced.
It's absolutely brilliant to think
about the engineering ingenuity.
NARRATOR: The Falkirk Wheel's designers
created a one of a kind
engineering masterpiece
to solve a unique problem
with originality and style.
As narrow boats make their way
through the Scottish countryside,
in the nearby fields malt barley farmers
prepare their crops for harvest.
This barley will go on to form
one of Scotland's proudest creations.
In Scotland's northeast,
aerial cameras
reveal countless little factories.
What are they?
A clue lies along
one of the nation's longest waterways.
The mighty River Spey.
This river has more of these factories
hidden in its bends
than anywhere else in Scotland.
These are Speyside's
famous whiskey distilleries.
They use the region's pure spring waters
to make scotch.
All this industry has given rise
to a extraordinary aerial spectacle.
A yard that stands like a Mayan temple
in the heart of whiskey country.
This is the Speyside Cooperage.
It's home to around 150,000
empty whiskey barrels.
Stacked into pyramids
almost ten meters high.
When the distilleries need more casks
it's up to cooper, John Richard,
to build and repair them.
There's nothing quite like the pyramids
that we have here at Speyside Cooperage.
A lot of people say they resemble
the ancient Egyptian pyramids.
NARRATOR:
Scotch begins life as a colorless liquid.
Oak barrels give it its famous golden hue.
And once those barrels are empty,
the distilleries send them here
to be stored and eventually refurbished.
Today, one of the local distilleries
has placed an order
for 300 newly refurbished barrels.
All the casks are repaired to order
so they can be ready for shipment
to the distillery that very same day.
It's time for John to get to work
on a 2,000-year-old tradition.
Inside the Cooperage, John sets to work
on the order with lightning speed.
He checks the oak staves for imperfections
and throws any rotten wood away,
replacing it with a fresh strip.
RICHARD: We'll check for any defects
such as broken staves,
rusty hoops, buckled ends.
Experience tells us what to look for.
NARRATOR: Once the barrels have been fixed
and both ends have been removed,
the coopers do something
that at first glance seems crazy.
They set each cask
alight with a flame thrower.
The coopers place the casks
over a hole in the floor
which fires out a 430 degree flame,
blasting the inside of the barrel
for up to four minutes.
This is called charring,
and it holds the secret
to the malt whiskey's delicate flavor.
RICHARD: The charring caramelizes
the natural sugars
that exist within the wood
and this allows the alcohol
to pick up flavors of honey and caramel.
NARRATOR: In a single day,
John and the team complete 300 barrels
ready to be shipped out to the distillery.
Each barrel will spend the next decade
slowly turning a colorless spirit
into an exclusive Scottish product.
RICHARD: Speyside is the malt whiskey
capital of the world.
At the end of the day, when I roll
my last cask out on to the lorry,
it's great to know
that I have contributed something
that is so vital to the area.
NARRATOR: As summer draws to a close,
the temperature across the United Kingdom
starts to cool.
It's November
and the days are getting shorter.
The morning sun paints the sky a soft pink
and a thick mist
settles over the landscape.
It's autumn,
and in the north of England
a chill in the air
signals the start of one of the most
dramatic feats in farming
that heralds the coming of new life.
In England's northwest,
in the heart of Cumbria,
sits the lake district.
A vast craggy national park
sculpted by glaciers
over the last two million years.
Looking closer, it's a patchwork
of seemingly barren mountains.
An aerial view reveals
that this rugged landscape is farmland.
Farmer, David Harrison,
looks after 1,100 mountain dwelling sheep.
It's a farming practice in this area
thought to stretch back to Viking times.
HARRISON: In the people round here
it's bred in them. It's in the blood.
Me family's been farming here
for well over 100 years.
I'm about the fourth, fifth generation.
NARRATOR: David needs to bring his sheep
back to the homestead for breeding.
His problem is finding them.
The sheep live semi-wild.
Spread out across 3,000 mountainous acres.
David's solution is to start
at the top of the mountain
with his team of dogs
and work his way down.
HARRISON:
I've done it that many times.
You know the fell
like the back of your hand.
I know where my sheep are.
NARRATOR: The further David
and his dogs move down the mountain,
the larger the flock becomes,
as he picks up more and more sheep
along the way.
HARRISON: It's gonna take us
about four to five hours
to get all the sheep back
in off that fell.
Lose a bit of sweat on the way
and sore feet, but we'll get it done.
NARRATOR: By the time
they reach the lowlands,
the giant flock is complete.
From above, it's an incredible sight.
A thousand sheep
squeeze through the narrow gate,
herded by David's dogs
like sand through an hour glass.
HARRISON: Dogs are marvelous.
I can put a dog up to a mile away
from where I'm stood
to bring sheep back to me or send them
in the right direction where I want to go.
They're invaluable.
You couldn't do it without them.
NARRATOR: A shepherd
taking around 100 sheep
from one field to the next
only needs a single sheepdog.
When you're collecting
1,000 sheep from a mountain,
the flock is so spread out,
you need more than ten.
HARRISON: When one splits off,
you have a good eye dog that'll fetch it,
guide it back into the flock
and you just stand still
and let the dog do its work.
NARRATOR: It takes them
till early afternoon
for David and his team
to finally herd all the sheep
into the pen for breeding.
HARRISON: The gather that
we've just done was absolutely fantastic.
It was their best gather
we've had on that fell this year.
It was just brilliant.
NARRATOR: In just a few months,
David's flock will give birth
to the next generation.
HARRISON: I love being on the fell.
Gathering the fell's me favorite job.
You can't beat it
being out on your own with your dogs.
I don't think I'm, eh,
cut out to do any other job.
Um, I'm unemployable I think. (laughs)
I'll have to stay doing this.
NARRATOR: As autumn's damp wet weather
takes hold across the UK,
people dream of jetting off
to warmer climes.
A cutting edge engineering workshop
in the middle of England
makes those dreams a reality.
The Midlands are historically
the industrial heartland of England.
Birmingham, Coventry,
and Derby were key cities
in the industrial revolution.
Even today, the area around Derby
still houses
some of the most advanced transport
manufacturing workshops in existence.
This colossal concrete structure
is the Rolls-Royce test facility.
It's here that every jet engine
produced in the neighboring assemble line
is certified fit for service.
Chris Pattinson is the man in charge.
It's his job to make sure
our planes can fly safely.
PATTINSON: If we didn't have
the ability to test engines, quite simply,
you and I couldn't go on holiday.
This is a facility that runs
24 hours a day.
It runs almost seven days a week
and it runs almost 365 days a year.
NARRATOR:
Each multi-million-pound jet engine
consists of 30,000 components,
but as our airborne journey reveals,
the building itself
is a modern engineering wonder.
One room in particular is vital
for keeping the four billion passengers
who travel by air each year, safe.
This is the Rolls-Royce test bed.
PATTINSON: I remember my first time here
and what got me was the scale.
What we do here is absolutely exceptional.
NARRATOR: Here, Chris and his team
fire up the 50,000 horsepower jet engines
to full throttle.
They do this for every engine
the company builds in the UK.
The only way to truly understand
how remarkable this room is,
is to see it from the sky
above the building.
A colossal fan in the tower
on the right of the building
sucks in 1.3 tons of air per second.
The air passes through the engine
at almost 1,600 kilometers per hour
before being expelled from the building
through an enormous chimney on the left.
This super-sized vent system
means that Rolls-Royce
can rigorously test
every jet engine it builds
under the extreme conditions
the jet could face
at 10,000 meters altitude,
without ever needing to leave the factory.
The team start the engine.
They want to replicate the effect
of flying through an enormous rainstorm
to see if the engine
can withstand over ten liters of water
spraying through every second.
The forces involved are huge.
Each engine produces more thrust
than 68 Formula One cars.
The test is over.
The team carefully inspects the engine
to see how it coped
with the extreme forces
and it's passed with flying colors.
PATTINSON: The technology
that we deal with is exceptional.
The facilities are exceptional.
I absolutely love it
and I wouldn't do anything else.
NARRATOR: As autumn in the Midlands fades,
a cold chill descends upon the UK
and a dusting of frost
covers all corners of the nation.
It's December and winter
has arrived in the British Isles.
Icy coastal winds
bring freezing temperatures.
But in the heart
of the Cornish countryside,
groundbreaking British designers
have found a way
to defeat the winter blues
by engineering a tropical climate
all year round.
On England's southern-most tip,
nestled in amongst the rugged
Cornish coastline,
is the last place on Earth you would
expect to find a tropical paradise,
but zoom in closer,
an aerial view reveals a building
straight out of science fiction.
This is the Eden Project.
The world's biggest indoor rainforest.
This incredible engineering masterpiece
is a series of eight interlocking
transparent domes
etched into the Cornish countryside.
It's 7:00 a.m. and for daredevil gardener,
David Paul, it's time to get to work.
This is the biggest captivity
rainforest in the world.
It's such an exciting opportunity
to be able to work
with these different trees
that you'd never be able to work with.
NARRATOR:
Designers created the Eden Project
to house and celebrate plant species
from rainforests across the globe.
It's home to nearly
two million different plants
that span three
of the world's climate zones.
A specially designed irrigation system
captures rainfall
which is recycled to water the plants,
feed the ten-meter waterfall
and add to the dome's humidity.
But there's a problem.
The tropical conditions are so good
the plants inside the domes
grow just as fast as they would
in the wild.
If left unchecked,
this could cause a serious issue.
The trees could penetrate the dome itself
and then once
that is open to the elements,
all the other trees would potentially die.
NARRATOR: The Eden Project's canopy
is growing so quickly
it's close to bursting through
the greenhouse roof.
If that were to happen,
all the species
that this habitat protects
would be at risk.
Today, David and the team
have just three hours
to trim the branches
before the morning rush of visitors.
The rope crew haul their way
to the top of the structure.
It's the dome's geodesic design
that holds the secret
to the Eden Project's phenomenal success.
More than 800 different plastic sheets
make up the structure.
An ultra light steel frame
holds them together
to create the perfectly rounded domes.
This giant bubble wrapped shell
lets in as much light as possible,
while insulating the rainforest
to between 18 and 38 degrees Celsius
all year round.
Working in these temperatures
takes some skill.
Especially when maneuvering a chainsaw.
PAUL: It is challenging
working in here in the heat.
The metal work can get so hot in here
that you can cook an egg on it.
-(man yells indistinctly)
-Okay.
Okay. Below!
NARRATOR: The rope team
trim the branches
and glide back down to ground level.
It's a job well done.
Over a million people
visit the Eden Project each year
to marvel at its botanical wonders
as well as the incredible structure
that houses them.
At the opposite end of the United Kingdom,
the January weather
paints Scotland white with snow.
In the east of the country,
Scottish engineers have used
the natural landscape
to create a surprising home
for some of the biggest machines on Earth.
Scotland's east coast is a land
of narrow sea inlets called firths.
Glaciers carved these deep bays
during the last ice age.
Just 30 kilometers north of Inverness,
sits Cromarty Firth.
It appears to be dotted
with strange industrial structures.
What are they?
A closer look reveals
the surprising truth.
This is an enormous repair yard
for oil rigs.
The North Sea is filled
with over 600 of these giants
but when the rigs need repairs,
they're towed here
to the shelter of the firth.
Calum Slater is in charge of the port.
It's his job to make sure
these rigs are hauled through
Cromarty Firth's waterways
to the waiting engineering companies
without running aground on the rocks.
Every job that we do,
we carry the responsibility
for this stretch of water.
We always want to be sure
things are going to plan.
NARRATOR: Calum's task today
is to move an enormous oil rig
from the mouth of the firth into dock.
The monster machine
is worth around £40 million.
To tow the massive oil rig into harbor,
Calum doesn't just use one giant tug,
he uses two.
Rigs float thanks to giant buoyancy aids
called pontoons
which lie just below the water's surface.
But when they're being moved,
these same pontoons drag in the water,
making the rigs less stable.
So while one ship pulls the rig forwards,
the other tugs in the opposite direction
to help keep the rig upright.
Each towing vessel
has a 28,000 horsepower engine
and is almost as long
as the Statue of Liberty.
SLATER: Rig moves can take
anywhere between eight
to 17, 18, 19 hours in--in duration.
NARRATOR: Progress is painfully slow.
The rig barely seems to move.
But over the next hour,
the rig creeps forward nine kilometers
to reach its final goal,
the docking site
at the port in Invergordon.
The rig is 90 meters long
and 76 meters wide.
But it needs to squeeze into this space
less than 150 meters across.
The space is too narrow
for the colossal towing vessels
that brought the rig into the firth.
So smaller more maneuverable
harbor tug boats take over.
Meter by meter, the tug boats
carefully tow the rig
into the docking site
and align it with the side of the jetty
so the rig is parallel.
It's dusk
and the team have
successfully landed the rig in the dock.
The crew on board have made it home
in time for a well-earned break.
SLATER: At the end of the day,
we're glad that it's done safely.
NARRATOR: The port's engineering companies
will spend the next few months
giving the rig a full service.
When they're finished,
this colossal machine
will head back out to the North Sea
in search of
black gold once more.
The UK is an island nation
with a thirst for engineering innovation
that has left a permanent mark
on the world's stage.
It has a rich cultural history
that spans many different regions.
They all retain their own unique stamp
of individuality
but come together as one united kingdom.
From a unique aerial view,
we will show four countries
that come together as one nation.
Thousand-year-old traditions.
One of a kind engineering marvels.
The UK is a population of innovators
who forged the modern world.
In this series, we'll take an aerial tour
across Europe,
seeing its sights
from a brand new perspective.
Filmed from above
and over the course of a single year,
as the landscape transforms
through the changing seasons,
we will uncover the culture,
history, and engineering
that built the great
European nations we see today.
The Untied Kingdom
is an island nation
in Northwestern Europe.
Separated from the mainland
by the English Channel,
the UK has forged its own path
from the rest of the continent.
It's made up of England, Scotland,
Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Each country has its own unique landscape,
culture and sense of identity.
It's April, and across the nation
the weather is warming up.
Trees shrug off their snowy blankets
and fill their branches with blossom...
as spring comes to the UK.
In England's capital, London,
it's as busy as ever.
A bird's-eye view
reveals how this 2,000-year-old city
is densely packed with unique architecture
and engineering wonders
seen nowhere else on Earth.
The Houses of Parliament,
the nation's seat of government.
St. Paul's Cathedral,
renowned for its iconic
30-meter wide dome.
Tower Bridge, the city's world-famous
suspension draw bridge.
From high above the clouds,
London appears huge.
A sprawling metropolis stretching around
50 kilometers across.
It's home to around nine million people.
Zooming in on the city's heart
reveals a cluster of high tech buildings
that soar above
London's traditional landmarks.
These are the towering skyscrapers
of London's famous financial district.
Each stunning new mega structure
has a uniquely engineered form.
Perhaps the most striking
is the giant glass clad
Leadenhall Building,
famous for its unusual
wedge-shaped design.
This breathtaking structure
is 225 meters tall.
Its steel core weighs almost 18,000 tons.
And 4,220 glass panels
cover its angled facade.
Pawel Urban is more familiar than most
with the Leadenhall Building's
shining glass panels
because it rests on his shoulders
to clean them.
I prefer to doing this job
when it's sunshine like this.
Nice weather.
NARRATOR: Today, Pawel and his crew
are cleaning the Leadenhall Building.
To do this, the team uses
a specially designed mechanical arm
which carries a metal cradle
down the side of the building.
But the team can only go over the edge
when the wind speed
is less than 40 kilometers per hour.
This is to make sure
the cradle doesn't swing precariously
in the strong breeze and damage the glass
or come detached
from the crane altogether.
The wind has been howling
at over 50 kilometers per hour all morning
but the crew notice a lull in the weather.
URBAN: Not windy.
Only three miles.
NARRATOR: The team get the go-ahead
to begin their extraordinary descent
down the face of the glass skyscraper,
but they need to work quickly
to make the most of this lucky break
in the weather.
URBAN: The first time
when I was in the cradle,
I was very scared but now I'm all right.
NARRATOR: Aerial cameras reveal
this extraordinary process up close.
Unchecked, the further
the cradle drops on its cables,
the more it risks swinging in the wind.
So architects built this skyscraper
with seven channels
running down the south face
of the building.
The cradle has specially designed rails
that lock into these channels.
The rails help stop the cradle
blowing in the wind.
But as the hours tick by,
spring's unpredictable weather
starts to turn.
URBAN: Sometimes it's very windy
and we have to go up quick
'cause it's very dangerous for us.
NARRATOR:
With the wind picking up further,
Pawel and his team
finish their last window.
They've managed to complete
two sections of the building
in the short time they've been cleaning.
But with the Leadenhall Building's
4,220 panes of glass,
it's a full-time job
to keep the city's skyline glistening.
URBAN: Well, see the windows.
We are on ground floor.
Nice and shiny.
Nice and clean.
So I'm very proud and happy.
We're doing a good job.
NARRATOR: As London's daredevil
window cleaners climb down from their rig,
across the Irish Sea
it's time for another
mega-sized spring clean.
Northern Ireland
is the United Kingdom's smallest country.
Belfast, the country's capital,
is a port city steeped in history.
Home to the world-famous
launch site of the Titanic.
Northern Ireland is a land
of epic landscapes
from rugged countryside
to mythical coastlines.
On its northeast coast,
in County Antrim,
sits a natural wonder.
This jet-black shoreline
is called the Causeway Coast.
It's a 60-million-year-old
geological marvel.
A bird's-eye view reveals
a world-famous part of this coastline
called the Giant's Causeway.
It's a bizarre lattice of around 40,000
60-million-year-old
interlocking hexagonal pillars.
The Giant's Causeway is Northern Ireland's
most visited tourist attraction.
But because it's near
the busy shipping lanes
of the Atlantic and Irish Sea,
the coastline encounters
a lot of marine debris.
This means that every year,
the Causeway Coast
is in need of a spring clean.
ETHERSON: Today we're gonna see
what we can do
at removing a lot of the plastic
that's in the bays here
at the Giant's Causeway.
NARRATOR: Barry Etherson
is a local water sports instructor.
He's part of a dedicated group
of volunteers
who clear up unsightly marine rubbish
from the Causeway Coastline.
Today, Barry and the team
aim to clear four kilometers of coastline
around the Giant's Causeway.
Picking up everything
from nylon fishing nets and car tires
to plastic oil drums and even flip flops.
But the seaweed and hidden rocks
make it too dangerous
for boats to get close enough.
So the team turn to jet skis.
The final few meters
are too shallow even for the jet skis.
So the volunteers must swim
the last stretch.
Careful to avoid the biggest waves
smashing against the rocky outcrop.
According to local legend,
a giant called Finn McCool
built these pillars
as a bridge to Scotland.
In truth, the Giant's Causeway
is the result of a volcanic eruption
sixty million years ago.
As lava bubbled out of the ground here,
it hit the sea where it cooled quickly,
cracking to form the perfect
hexagonal-shaped basalt pillars
we see today.
It takes Barry's team around six hours
to collect more than 500 kilos of litter.
(Barry grunts)
(yells)
Now, they need to get their haul
back to the boat.
Barry and the volunteers
edge their litter sacks to the shoreline.
The team need to scramble back
to the jet skis
fully laden with their bags of waste.
A lot of the big sacks,
they-- they catch and everything.
They get caught
in the barnacles and limpets.
Yeah, it's just brute force really.
Egging each other on.
NARRATOR: Clearing the area of litter
is about more than just safeguarding
this region's extraordinary aesthetics,
it's about keeping
the ecosystem healthy, too.
ETHERSON: Plastics break down
into micro plastics.
That gets into the fish.
It gets into, inadvertently, people.
NARRATOR: The volunteers load the trailer
with their final haul.
They've managed to collect
an impressive 545 kilos of rubbish.
Today's effort has helped preserve
this iconic coastline
in time for the influx of summer tourists.
ETHERSON: There's a lot of people here
who care.
We appreciate it for its beauty.
We work here.
You kinda hope it stays beautiful.
This is a very busy part of the world.
A lot of people come here.
For everybody to enjoy.
NARRATOR: It's the beginning of June
and the temperature across the nation
starts to rise.
Once empty beaches fill with tourists,
as holiday makers flock to the seaside.
Summer has arrived in the UK.
In this warm, glowing weather,
England's south coast fills with tourists
seeking a traditional family break.
From the white chalk cliffs of Dover,
to Dorset's Jurassic Coast,
these picture-perfect bays
echo to the sound
of an engineering masterpiece
that changed the world.
In the 19th century, British engineers
invented and perfected the steam railway.
They laid more than 32,000 kilometers
of track across the British Isles,
revolutionizing transport.
On the South Devon Coast
lies perhaps the most
beautiful railway line
Britain's industrial innovators
ever conceived.
This is the Dartmouth Heritage Railway.
It's 11 kilometers of line
stretching from Paignton in the north
to Kingswear in the south.
The railway offers nostalgic tourists
a brief taste of a bygone age.
It's up to Ian Wellington
to keep the railway's collection
of vintage steam trains
in perfect running order.
Each of these machines
has its own unique character and nuances.
WELLINGTON: Some people say
they've got a personality.
They are living and breathing
because of how they work
and the way they sound.
NARRATOR: These vintage machines
run on hot steam
held at incredibly high pressures.
The six engines in Ian's care
have a collective age of over 500 years.
So it takes all of Ian's
35 years of experience
to keep the locomotives
from breaking down.
You're responsible
for the train that the people are in
so you've got to understand
what you're doing,
what can go wrong.
NARRATOR:
It's time to board the passengers
and stoke the furnace
which sits inside the train's boiler.
The hot furnace turns the water
surrounding it into high pressure steam.
A pipe at the top of the boiler
then diverts the steam to twin pistons
which sit either side of the front wheels.
As the pistons fill with steam,
they drive the wheels forward.
This line includes
a half-kilometer long tunnel
and the magnificent Hooks Hill viaduct,
designed by world renowned
British industrial engineer,
Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Finally, Kingswear.
A picturesque fishing village
crammed with boats.
The steam train has completed
a full run with no problems
and all its vintage parts
have made it in one piece.
For Ian, that's a triumph.
Hopefully, I've done a good job
and I can go and have a cup of tea.
(laughs)
NARRATOR: It's testament to Ian
and his team's care and attention
that this little part of British heritage
is being kept alive
for future generations to enjoy.
As well as carving a railway network
into the nation's countryside,
Britain's pioneering industrial engineers
built another transport legacy
that lives on today.
In July, the midsummer heat
spreads across the UK.
From the south coast of England
to the United Kingdom's
most northern country, Scotland.
Here, hikers take to the highlands
to explore some of
the UK's tallest mountains
as the summer thaw
melts away the snowy peaks.
In Scotland's south,
the vibrant cities of Glasgow
and the country's capital, Edinburgh,
throng with tourists there to soak up
the art and culture on offer.
Those that want to escape
the hustle and bustle
take to the canals
for a tranquil weekend on the water.
The whole of the United Kingdom
is crisscrossed
with more than 3,000 kilometers
of man-made waterways.
Engineers built these canals
in the 18th and 19th century
to power the industrial revolution.
Today, they're used for pleasure.
Scotland has two major canals
that run between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
They meet in the middle,
at a town called Falkirk.
From above, the two canals
appear to join as one.
But a closer look reveals a problem.
The undulating Scottish landscape means
that there is a 35-meter vertical drop
between the two canals.
So how do you travel
between two waterways
on completely different levels?
Inventive engineers
devise an ingenious solution.
The world's only rotating boat lift,
the Falkirk Wheel.
Before this machine was opened in 2002,
it would take weary boaters
a day's heavy work
to travel between the two canals,
opening and closing
44 lock gates along the way.
Today, the Falkirk Wheel can transport
barges up and down between the canals
in just four and a half minutes.
Peter Robinson is the head engineer
for Scottish Canals.
It's Peter's job
to ensure the smooth running
of this £17.5 million engineering marvel.
For me to be responsible
for trying to look after it
is just superb.
I think some days,
I've got the best job in the world.
NARRATOR: Today, Peter and his colleagues
have seven hours
to coordinate the movement of 25 boats
up and down between the two canals.
At each end of the waterway,
the first boats of the day
start to arrive.
The skippers steer their barges
into water tight gondolas
at each end of the wheel.
Peter's colleagues in the operation room
close the hydraulic gates
and set the wheel turning.
Ten hydraulic motors work together
to power an enormous gear
that turns the central axle.
This raises one of the 300-ton gondolas
into the air
while lowering the other.
As the wheel rotates,
each of the gondolas remains upright
thanks to a simple series of giant cogs.
ROBINSON: It's just phenomenal
the number of people that are coming along
and reliably we just bring them through.
It's just engineering at its best.
NARRATOR: In each turn, the engine
only uses the same amount of energy
as eight boiling kettles.
For the wheel to run this efficiently
the weight of the two gondolas
needs to be exactly the same at all times.
But luckily that's not as hard
as it sounds,
thanks to a handy quirk of physics.
When a boat enters either gondola,
it displaces its own weight
in water exactly.
This means the two ends of the lift
remain in perfect balance
whether they're empty or full of boats.
ROBINSON: It's complex yet simple.
Whatever goes in displaces water
and therefore the two gondolas
on the wheel remain balanced.
It's absolutely brilliant to think
about the engineering ingenuity.
NARRATOR: The Falkirk Wheel's designers
created a one of a kind
engineering masterpiece
to solve a unique problem
with originality and style.
As narrow boats make their way
through the Scottish countryside,
in the nearby fields malt barley farmers
prepare their crops for harvest.
This barley will go on to form
one of Scotland's proudest creations.
In Scotland's northeast,
aerial cameras
reveal countless little factories.
What are they?
A clue lies along
one of the nation's longest waterways.
The mighty River Spey.
This river has more of these factories
hidden in its bends
than anywhere else in Scotland.
These are Speyside's
famous whiskey distilleries.
They use the region's pure spring waters
to make scotch.
All this industry has given rise
to a extraordinary aerial spectacle.
A yard that stands like a Mayan temple
in the heart of whiskey country.
This is the Speyside Cooperage.
It's home to around 150,000
empty whiskey barrels.
Stacked into pyramids
almost ten meters high.
When the distilleries need more casks
it's up to cooper, John Richard,
to build and repair them.
There's nothing quite like the pyramids
that we have here at Speyside Cooperage.
A lot of people say they resemble
the ancient Egyptian pyramids.
NARRATOR:
Scotch begins life as a colorless liquid.
Oak barrels give it its famous golden hue.
And once those barrels are empty,
the distilleries send them here
to be stored and eventually refurbished.
Today, one of the local distilleries
has placed an order
for 300 newly refurbished barrels.
All the casks are repaired to order
so they can be ready for shipment
to the distillery that very same day.
It's time for John to get to work
on a 2,000-year-old tradition.
Inside the Cooperage, John sets to work
on the order with lightning speed.
He checks the oak staves for imperfections
and throws any rotten wood away,
replacing it with a fresh strip.
RICHARD: We'll check for any defects
such as broken staves,
rusty hoops, buckled ends.
Experience tells us what to look for.
NARRATOR: Once the barrels have been fixed
and both ends have been removed,
the coopers do something
that at first glance seems crazy.
They set each cask
alight with a flame thrower.
The coopers place the casks
over a hole in the floor
which fires out a 430 degree flame,
blasting the inside of the barrel
for up to four minutes.
This is called charring,
and it holds the secret
to the malt whiskey's delicate flavor.
RICHARD: The charring caramelizes
the natural sugars
that exist within the wood
and this allows the alcohol
to pick up flavors of honey and caramel.
NARRATOR: In a single day,
John and the team complete 300 barrels
ready to be shipped out to the distillery.
Each barrel will spend the next decade
slowly turning a colorless spirit
into an exclusive Scottish product.
RICHARD: Speyside is the malt whiskey
capital of the world.
At the end of the day, when I roll
my last cask out on to the lorry,
it's great to know
that I have contributed something
that is so vital to the area.
NARRATOR: As summer draws to a close,
the temperature across the United Kingdom
starts to cool.
It's November
and the days are getting shorter.
The morning sun paints the sky a soft pink
and a thick mist
settles over the landscape.
It's autumn,
and in the north of England
a chill in the air
signals the start of one of the most
dramatic feats in farming
that heralds the coming of new life.
In England's northwest,
in the heart of Cumbria,
sits the lake district.
A vast craggy national park
sculpted by glaciers
over the last two million years.
Looking closer, it's a patchwork
of seemingly barren mountains.
An aerial view reveals
that this rugged landscape is farmland.
Farmer, David Harrison,
looks after 1,100 mountain dwelling sheep.
It's a farming practice in this area
thought to stretch back to Viking times.
HARRISON: In the people round here
it's bred in them. It's in the blood.
Me family's been farming here
for well over 100 years.
I'm about the fourth, fifth generation.
NARRATOR: David needs to bring his sheep
back to the homestead for breeding.
His problem is finding them.
The sheep live semi-wild.
Spread out across 3,000 mountainous acres.
David's solution is to start
at the top of the mountain
with his team of dogs
and work his way down.
HARRISON:
I've done it that many times.
You know the fell
like the back of your hand.
I know where my sheep are.
NARRATOR: The further David
and his dogs move down the mountain,
the larger the flock becomes,
as he picks up more and more sheep
along the way.
HARRISON: It's gonna take us
about four to five hours
to get all the sheep back
in off that fell.
Lose a bit of sweat on the way
and sore feet, but we'll get it done.
NARRATOR: By the time
they reach the lowlands,
the giant flock is complete.
From above, it's an incredible sight.
A thousand sheep
squeeze through the narrow gate,
herded by David's dogs
like sand through an hour glass.
HARRISON: Dogs are marvelous.
I can put a dog up to a mile away
from where I'm stood
to bring sheep back to me or send them
in the right direction where I want to go.
They're invaluable.
You couldn't do it without them.
NARRATOR: A shepherd
taking around 100 sheep
from one field to the next
only needs a single sheepdog.
When you're collecting
1,000 sheep from a mountain,
the flock is so spread out,
you need more than ten.
HARRISON: When one splits off,
you have a good eye dog that'll fetch it,
guide it back into the flock
and you just stand still
and let the dog do its work.
NARRATOR: It takes them
till early afternoon
for David and his team
to finally herd all the sheep
into the pen for breeding.
HARRISON: The gather that
we've just done was absolutely fantastic.
It was their best gather
we've had on that fell this year.
It was just brilliant.
NARRATOR: In just a few months,
David's flock will give birth
to the next generation.
HARRISON: I love being on the fell.
Gathering the fell's me favorite job.
You can't beat it
being out on your own with your dogs.
I don't think I'm, eh,
cut out to do any other job.
Um, I'm unemployable I think. (laughs)
I'll have to stay doing this.
NARRATOR: As autumn's damp wet weather
takes hold across the UK,
people dream of jetting off
to warmer climes.
A cutting edge engineering workshop
in the middle of England
makes those dreams a reality.
The Midlands are historically
the industrial heartland of England.
Birmingham, Coventry,
and Derby were key cities
in the industrial revolution.
Even today, the area around Derby
still houses
some of the most advanced transport
manufacturing workshops in existence.
This colossal concrete structure
is the Rolls-Royce test facility.
It's here that every jet engine
produced in the neighboring assemble line
is certified fit for service.
Chris Pattinson is the man in charge.
It's his job to make sure
our planes can fly safely.
PATTINSON: If we didn't have
the ability to test engines, quite simply,
you and I couldn't go on holiday.
This is a facility that runs
24 hours a day.
It runs almost seven days a week
and it runs almost 365 days a year.
NARRATOR:
Each multi-million-pound jet engine
consists of 30,000 components,
but as our airborne journey reveals,
the building itself
is a modern engineering wonder.
One room in particular is vital
for keeping the four billion passengers
who travel by air each year, safe.
This is the Rolls-Royce test bed.
PATTINSON: I remember my first time here
and what got me was the scale.
What we do here is absolutely exceptional.
NARRATOR: Here, Chris and his team
fire up the 50,000 horsepower jet engines
to full throttle.
They do this for every engine
the company builds in the UK.
The only way to truly understand
how remarkable this room is,
is to see it from the sky
above the building.
A colossal fan in the tower
on the right of the building
sucks in 1.3 tons of air per second.
The air passes through the engine
at almost 1,600 kilometers per hour
before being expelled from the building
through an enormous chimney on the left.
This super-sized vent system
means that Rolls-Royce
can rigorously test
every jet engine it builds
under the extreme conditions
the jet could face
at 10,000 meters altitude,
without ever needing to leave the factory.
The team start the engine.
They want to replicate the effect
of flying through an enormous rainstorm
to see if the engine
can withstand over ten liters of water
spraying through every second.
The forces involved are huge.
Each engine produces more thrust
than 68 Formula One cars.
The test is over.
The team carefully inspects the engine
to see how it coped
with the extreme forces
and it's passed with flying colors.
PATTINSON: The technology
that we deal with is exceptional.
The facilities are exceptional.
I absolutely love it
and I wouldn't do anything else.
NARRATOR: As autumn in the Midlands fades,
a cold chill descends upon the UK
and a dusting of frost
covers all corners of the nation.
It's December and winter
has arrived in the British Isles.
Icy coastal winds
bring freezing temperatures.
But in the heart
of the Cornish countryside,
groundbreaking British designers
have found a way
to defeat the winter blues
by engineering a tropical climate
all year round.
On England's southern-most tip,
nestled in amongst the rugged
Cornish coastline,
is the last place on Earth you would
expect to find a tropical paradise,
but zoom in closer,
an aerial view reveals a building
straight out of science fiction.
This is the Eden Project.
The world's biggest indoor rainforest.
This incredible engineering masterpiece
is a series of eight interlocking
transparent domes
etched into the Cornish countryside.
It's 7:00 a.m. and for daredevil gardener,
David Paul, it's time to get to work.
This is the biggest captivity
rainforest in the world.
It's such an exciting opportunity
to be able to work
with these different trees
that you'd never be able to work with.
NARRATOR:
Designers created the Eden Project
to house and celebrate plant species
from rainforests across the globe.
It's home to nearly
two million different plants
that span three
of the world's climate zones.
A specially designed irrigation system
captures rainfall
which is recycled to water the plants,
feed the ten-meter waterfall
and add to the dome's humidity.
But there's a problem.
The tropical conditions are so good
the plants inside the domes
grow just as fast as they would
in the wild.
If left unchecked,
this could cause a serious issue.
The trees could penetrate the dome itself
and then once
that is open to the elements,
all the other trees would potentially die.
NARRATOR: The Eden Project's canopy
is growing so quickly
it's close to bursting through
the greenhouse roof.
If that were to happen,
all the species
that this habitat protects
would be at risk.
Today, David and the team
have just three hours
to trim the branches
before the morning rush of visitors.
The rope crew haul their way
to the top of the structure.
It's the dome's geodesic design
that holds the secret
to the Eden Project's phenomenal success.
More than 800 different plastic sheets
make up the structure.
An ultra light steel frame
holds them together
to create the perfectly rounded domes.
This giant bubble wrapped shell
lets in as much light as possible,
while insulating the rainforest
to between 18 and 38 degrees Celsius
all year round.
Working in these temperatures
takes some skill.
Especially when maneuvering a chainsaw.
PAUL: It is challenging
working in here in the heat.
The metal work can get so hot in here
that you can cook an egg on it.
-(man yells indistinctly)
-Okay.
Okay. Below!
NARRATOR: The rope team
trim the branches
and glide back down to ground level.
It's a job well done.
Over a million people
visit the Eden Project each year
to marvel at its botanical wonders
as well as the incredible structure
that houses them.
At the opposite end of the United Kingdom,
the January weather
paints Scotland white with snow.
In the east of the country,
Scottish engineers have used
the natural landscape
to create a surprising home
for some of the biggest machines on Earth.
Scotland's east coast is a land
of narrow sea inlets called firths.
Glaciers carved these deep bays
during the last ice age.
Just 30 kilometers north of Inverness,
sits Cromarty Firth.
It appears to be dotted
with strange industrial structures.
What are they?
A closer look reveals
the surprising truth.
This is an enormous repair yard
for oil rigs.
The North Sea is filled
with over 600 of these giants
but when the rigs need repairs,
they're towed here
to the shelter of the firth.
Calum Slater is in charge of the port.
It's his job to make sure
these rigs are hauled through
Cromarty Firth's waterways
to the waiting engineering companies
without running aground on the rocks.
Every job that we do,
we carry the responsibility
for this stretch of water.
We always want to be sure
things are going to plan.
NARRATOR: Calum's task today
is to move an enormous oil rig
from the mouth of the firth into dock.
The monster machine
is worth around £40 million.
To tow the massive oil rig into harbor,
Calum doesn't just use one giant tug,
he uses two.
Rigs float thanks to giant buoyancy aids
called pontoons
which lie just below the water's surface.
But when they're being moved,
these same pontoons drag in the water,
making the rigs less stable.
So while one ship pulls the rig forwards,
the other tugs in the opposite direction
to help keep the rig upright.
Each towing vessel
has a 28,000 horsepower engine
and is almost as long
as the Statue of Liberty.
SLATER: Rig moves can take
anywhere between eight
to 17, 18, 19 hours in--in duration.
NARRATOR: Progress is painfully slow.
The rig barely seems to move.
But over the next hour,
the rig creeps forward nine kilometers
to reach its final goal,
the docking site
at the port in Invergordon.
The rig is 90 meters long
and 76 meters wide.
But it needs to squeeze into this space
less than 150 meters across.
The space is too narrow
for the colossal towing vessels
that brought the rig into the firth.
So smaller more maneuverable
harbor tug boats take over.
Meter by meter, the tug boats
carefully tow the rig
into the docking site
and align it with the side of the jetty
so the rig is parallel.
It's dusk
and the team have
successfully landed the rig in the dock.
The crew on board have made it home
in time for a well-earned break.
SLATER: At the end of the day,
we're glad that it's done safely.
NARRATOR: The port's engineering companies
will spend the next few months
giving the rig a full service.
When they're finished,
this colossal machine
will head back out to the North Sea
in search of
black gold once more.
The UK is an island nation
with a thirst for engineering innovation
that has left a permanent mark
on the world's stage.
It has a rich cultural history
that spans many different regions.
They all retain their own unique stamp
of individuality
but come together as one united kingdom.