Saving the Seaside

Rajan Datar tours Britain's seaside towns, uncovering revival, climate pressures and community grit. In Margate, he visits Dreamland on its 10th anniversary to see if retro rides and neon nights have successfully lured crowds from the city. In St Ives, he meets local 'mermaids' pleading for cleaner seas as record visitor numbers test Cornwall's fragile shores. And in Skegness, nearly ninety years after Sir Billy Butlin opened his first holiday camp, Rajan shadows a modern Red Coat to find out if bucket-and-spade heritage still holds its sparkle.