Nick Crane tells the chilling tale of an abandoned refrigeration plant whose
workers kept Britain's biggest fishing fleet afloat. How did their ingenious
production line create the tons of ice needed each day to keep the fish from
Grimsby's trawlers fresh for the nation's plates? The extraordinary Grimsby Ice
Factory, dating from 1901, was one of the few sites in the country that could
freeze water on a truly industrial scale. The Ice Factory closed its doors for
the last time in 1990, but the last man to work there returns to bring the
whole process back to life.

And how good is your parking? At the port on the river Tyne, Nick joins a crack
team of drivers on a race against time to precision park hundreds of new
British-built cars aboard a huge purpose-built car-transporter. Nick is pushed
to the limit squeezing in the vehicles just millimetres apart, for export
around the world.

Neil Oliver relives a remarkable tale: when thousands of shipyard workers on
the river Clyde fought job losses, not by walking out on strike, but by
'working-in'. In 1971 the famous Clydeside work-in was a revolutionary new
tactic; the struggle to keep on working whatever the bosses said attracted
world-wide financial support, including red roses and cash from John Lennon and
Yoko Ono. It is credited with saving shipbuilding on the upper Clyde, but is
the legend of the work-in all that it seems? For the first time, the man the
government put in charge of the yards tells the story from his perspective, a
version of events which re-writes the accepted history.

Tessa Dunlop reveals the astonishing, untold story of the secret of the Royal
Navy's sea power, some 200 years ago. In Nelson's navy the British guns were
more accurate than our enemies', thanks to our ability to manufacture super-
smooth and perfectly round cannonballs. The secret ingredient was a mysterious
and rare mineral called plumbago. The purest plumbago existed in only one mine
in the world, near the port of Whitehaven. Tessa explores the abandoned mine
workings to find the long-forgotten source of plumbago. Can she rediscover its
remarkable properties by making her own super-smooth cannonballs?

And the legendary Ken Dodd joins Coast's resident story-teller Ian McMillan to
celebrate the entertainers who worked so hard to get laughs from the
holidaymakers of Blackpool in its heyday. For one night only they stage a
unique show at the resort's historic Grand Theatre: 'Edwardian Britain's Got
Seaside Talent'! Mega-stars of the Edwardian age, like 'Little Titch', were
household names, while Vesta Tilley's cross-dressing turn as a young dandy-
about-town, earned her the equivalent of £20,000 per week. Will their acts
still stand up today? Tribute acts take to the stage to find out, as Ian
discovers the story of the super-rich performers who wowed Britain's working
classes.