Contains scenes some viewers may find distressing.

The work of volunteer lifeboat crews in Britain. Devon's Torbay inshore lifeboat is launched when an angler slips on rocks and falls into the sea. In Dunbar, East Lothian, a day out turns to disaster when a family becomes cut off by the highest tide of the year.

Episode 1

Factual

Documentary

This series follows the vital work of volunteer lifeboat crews in Britain.

May Day May Day

Series 1

Exploring the work of volunteer lifeboat crews in Britain.

The Torbay lifeboat crew is called out after an artist in Brixham, Devon, loses his footing and falls from a cliff onto rocks below. A keen sailor needs help getting back to shore when his racing catamaran capsizes in gale-force winds off Brighton beach, and a dog leaps over the quayside in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Episode 2

A passer-by raises the alarm when a pensioner falls into icy water from his sailing boat off the coast of Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, and the Mayday call brings vessels from far and wide. In East Sussex, the Hastings RNLI responds to reports that the town's pier is on fire, and the Brighton lifeboat team rescues two shipwrecked friends.

Episode 3

The Humber lifeboat crew is involved in a precarious procedure to pick up a seriously ill passenger from a ferry in the North Sea. A sheepdog needs rescuing after plunging down a cliff face in Aberdeenshire, and an operation is mounted to reach two friends cut off by the tide at a secret beach off Corbyn Head, Torbay.

Episode 4

Mark Finnis and his lifeboat crew rush to the aid of an amateur sailor whose yacht is drifting onto a notorious stretch of sands in the English Channel. Harwich lifeboats are launched to find two men spotted getting into wetsuits and climbing off a passenger ferry before it has docked, while newlyweds Gordon and Laura Kirkham help in the rescue of two surfers in Dunbar.

Episode 5

Passengers watching the Bournemouth Air Show from a cruise boat call for help when the wind, rain and rolling swell leaves them feeling desperately ill. RNLI lifeguards in Devon race to the aid of a man whose friend accidentally shot him with a speargun while fishing, and the Swanage lifeboat team tries to save a deer from drowning.

Episode 6

The RNLI joins the lifeguard team on Croyde beach in Devon to save swimmers and surfers caught up in fierce rip currents. Crews in Tenby, Wales, are called out to a girl who has fallen down a steep cliff, while in Dorset the Swanage lifeboat races to pick up two divers at risk of getting the bends.

Episode 7

The Brighton inshore lifeboat is launched in severe conditions to rescue a yachtsman who has fallen overboard, and the RNLI in Poole battles to put a £20 million cruise ship under tow after another luxury vessel just feet away goes up in flames. Two friends call for help when they get cut off by the tide in Dover.