Robson Green explored parts of the UK’s stunning 11,000-mile coastline for his new TV series. Here he writes about his adventures filming ITV’s Tales From The Coast.
Some of my happiest memories areas a child on the Northumberland coast with my mum and dad, brothers and sisters.
I vividly remember driving down to the coast with my brother being sick all the way.
And my dad would set up windbreaks to protect us from the blast of lorries as we sat by the motorway having our egg sandwiches. It was a bit of a mission to get to the seaside but once we got there, it was more than worth it. To this day I am still happiest when day, I’m near water, whether it’s fishing, swimming or just sitting.
So it was an absolute pleasure to travel to some of Britain’s most beautiful watery locations for my new ITV series, Tales From The Coast.
We picked four very different areas of Britain to explore: North Devon, Pembrokeshire, Outer Hebrides and Essex and Sussex. Did you know we have 11,000 miles of coastline? More than France, Italy or Spain. We are a small nation but our coastline is comparatively vast.
It’s also one of the most varied ones in the world, from sweeping sands and cliffs to mud flats and spits.
And most of the time you can walk for miles and see only a handful of other people.
There’s a beach on the Hebrides that is honestly on a par with some of the greatest beaches in the Seychelles.
Hebrides you think of wild and remote islands, storms and rain, all grey and dour, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s utterly tropical. It’s astonishing.
You get there by plane, and it is the only airport in the world with scheduled flights taking off and landing on a beach.
We went diving there and it was incredible. The wildlife is so abundant. Over in Pembrokeshire, we got to hang out with some amazing wildlife, too. But most surprisingly of all, I bumped into my old pal, my Soldier Soldier co-star and singing partner Jerome Flynn.
I knew he lived in Pembrokeshire but I thought he was in Ireland filming Game of Thrones — and I also didn’t realise how close we were to his house. He got word that I was there, and he just appeared from around a corner.
He took me to all of the places that he loves in the area, so we ended up canoeing with seals and dolphins. I’ve travelled to more than 130 countries, and either swum or fished in the sea at 100 of those.
And yet, no matter where you go, you just cannot match Northumberland, or the Hebrides, or the Devon coast.
We work so hard and we get caught up in all of that, but sometimes I think it’s important to do the simple things in life.
There’s nothing greater in this hectic world than being in a boat with a dolphin swimming around you. It makes your heart sing. Or going to a rock pool and catching a crab. It turns you into a kid again.
I’d like to do more of this. I want to go to West Wittering and Brighton in Sussex, the Orkneys, the Scilly Isles and the west coast.
Reminding people what a beautiful country we have — and reminding them of their childhood, too — is just a wonderful thing to do.