Great Canal Journeys

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Great Canal Journeys
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Sheila and Gyles explore the Cambridgeshire Fens. A flat land with big skies as far as the eye can see, it's a part of the country unlike any other. They'll visit the vicarage where a children's classic was written, make a pilgrimage to Ely Cathedral, before ending their journey...

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Season 8
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Sheila and Gyles boat the beautiful Peak Forest Canal into Manchester. They will have a go at dry stone walling in the Peaks, discover the hatting history of Denton at a hand-made hat manufacturer, have a kick-about with a star of Manchester City Women's Team, ending their journey in Burnage, where Sheila will visit her la...
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Sheila and Gyles journey the Grand Union and Stratford Canal, to Stratford upon Avon - where Sheila has performed at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and where Gyles used to live with his family. They will learn about brewing ale, traditionally the big industry in the area, and later brave the 150-metre-long Edstone Aqueduct,...
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This episode sees Sheila and Gyles boating the Leeds-Liverpool canal across the beautiful West Lancashire Coastal Plain, from Wigan to Liverpool. They'll explore the two things that Wigan is most famous for - its pier and its pies, with Gyles going head-to-head with the World Pie-Eating Champion. They end their journey at ...
Season 7
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In their final trip of the series, Sheila and Gyles are boating the beautiful Staffordshire Worcestershire Canal. They begin by uncovering the history of Stourport, which only came into being after the canal was built there, which is unique for a British town. They will also explore the history of carpet manufacturing in K...
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Sheila and Gyles journey along the tricky-to-navigate Caldon Canal, and Trent and Mersey Canal, as they go on a pilgrimage in the Potteries and the city of Stoke on Trent. They begin their journey at Cheddleton Flint Mill, built in 1253, to hear why flint was such an essential pottery ingredient. Gyles pays tribute to one ...
Expired
New presenters and best of friends, Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth have lived in London all their lives - but they've never explored it by water. In this episode, they're journeying the Lee Navigation. It's an unsung hero of the canal world, for centuries bringing goods down through the East End to the London docks.
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After many years on the canals, Tim and Pru have decided to pass the tiller on to two brand new boaters - actor Sheila Hancock, 87, and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, 71. After learning the ropes with Tim, Sheila and Gyles set out alone along the upper reaches of the Thames. It's the same river that roars past their homes in...
Season 6
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For Tim and Pru, the canals of the North of England are some of the best examples of the golden age of canals, where industry and man-made waterways went hand in hand. This program looks back at some of their best moments on the canals of Lancashire and Yorkshire where the beauty of nature sits alongside the empty factorie...
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Over the years, Timothy West and Prunella Scales have taken us on glorious canal and river journeys across Britain and around the world. This special program looks back at their adventures in a part of the world they hold closest to their hearts.
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Over the years, Timothy West and Prunella Scales have taken us on glorious canal and river journeys across Britain and around the world. This special program looks back at their travels in Sweden where, in their ninth decade, they finally fulfilled their lifetime's ambition of crossing the country coast to coast by boat.
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Over the years Timothy West and Prunella Scales have taken us on glorious canal and river journeys across Britain and the world. Now two special programmes will look back at two of their favourite locations: Scotland and the North of England.
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At home, maps and photos spread out before them, Tim and Pru share some memories of their canal journeys overseas. Pru tells Tim that she's never been a keen traveller, but he gently reminds her of the wonderful adventures they've shared. It's an argument that Pru will gradually and gracefully lose, as we see them enjoying...
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Tim and Pru return to the Oxford, the canal where they first fell in love with boating, over forty years ago. Aboard their own boat, they travel north from Banbury, heading for the old canal port of Braunston. Along the way, they will be joined by their daughter Juliet and their sons Sam and Joe.
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Tim and Pru continue their voyage through Vietnam. Navigating their way along the jungle lined rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta, they'll then cross the border into Cambodia, and head for the capital city of Phenom Penh. Crossing the vast Tonle Sap Lake our two self-confessed, 'ancient mariners', will end their adventu...
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Over the past few years, national treasures Tim and Pru have been exploring waterways all over the world. This time, our pair of intrepid and self-confessed 'ancient mariners', head for South East Asia for an epic two-part voyage, on the canals and waterways of Vietnam and Cambodia.
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Tim and Pru embark on an epic adventure along one of the greatest achievements of British canal engineering. It's a world heritage site, and historically highly significant, yet very few people in this country have ever heard of the Rideau Canal.
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Tim and Pru return to the English canals to navigate the Lancaster Canal. An early masterpiece of the canal age, 'The Lanky', as it's affectionately known, wends its way north past through the City of Lancaster, hugging the coast at Morecambe Bay. It once went as far as Kendal on the edge of the Lake District.
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Tim and Pru embark on their first Latin American adventure and head for Argentina. The country's traditional image may be gauchos and the open plains of the pampas but a few miles from Buenos Aires lies a vast labyrinth of canals and rivers, that meander ever deeper into the jungle.
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Beginning on Britain's first purpose-built canal, the Bridgewater, Tim and Pru embark on a voyage through canal history, as they explore the waterways of North East England. Heading from the suburbs of Manchester to the great canal port at Ellesmere, along the way they'll discover how canals became the veins and arteries o...
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