The Netherlands

Coast ventures out to new territory, the astonishing man-made shoreline of the Netherlands. Nick Crane explores how ingenious Dutch engineers created massive coastal defences following the great North Sea flood in 1953, which killed thousands of people in the Netherlands and Britain.

Nick also discovers how, during the Second World War, traitors from the British Indian Army took part in the Nazi occupation of the tiny isle of Texel. This remarkable remote outpost in the far north of the Netherlands was later the unlikely site for the last battle in Europe of the Second World War. Nick investigates how the island fortress of Texel was torn apart by a murderous fight to the death between Soviet and Nazi soldiers in April 1945.

Mark Horton reveals the age-old skills that have made the Dutch the grand masters at creating new living space from the sea. Mark explores the greatest land grab scheme of all, an audacious 40-year plan to wall off the sea and drain away the water from an area bigger than Greater London.

And Miranda Krestovnikoff experiences how the Dutch delight in devouring raw herring as a seaside snack.