James May's Great Explorers

James May's Great Explorers (2025- )

To Be DeterminedDocumentary showTravel

There was a time, before football and rock'n'roll, when explorers were the A-listers of their day. Death-defying antics and tales of daring made them the stuff of legend: names like Columbus, Raleigh, and Cook, who sailed off over the horizon to discover new lands and bring home treasures unimaginable to those sitting at home in dark, damp Europe.   

Intrepid explorers they may have been, but ‘great' might be pushing it. Across the seven seas, they spilled blood and spread disease. They enabled the destruction of civilisations and the growth of slavery.  And many of their ‘discoveries' weren't quite what you'd think...   

Christopher Columbus - who stumbled across the Americas, but insisted he was in Asia.   

Sir Walter Raleigh - who didn't discover potatoes, tobacco, or El Dorado, but hustled his way into the history books.

Captain James Cook - who failed in his search for Antarctica but charted a third of the world map along the way.   

James will discover what really happened - and how. There'll be hands-on experiments, technological wonders, and plenty of messing about in boats, as he explores the science, engineering, and sheer stubbornness that allowed these extraordinary explorers to sail to every corner of the earth.   

Network
Scheduleevery Thursday at 21:00 (90 min)

Last Episode

Captain Cook
Season 1Episode 390 min

Captain Cook

Captain James Cook was the last explorer in the age of sail – and one of the busiest, charting one third of the globe. His voyages brought huge advancements in navigation, biology, and geography, and in Britain he is generally thought of as a hero – but in other parts of the world, that's not the story at all.

James May is diving headfirst into history, and getting hands-on with science, to understand how this studious and serious son of a farmer broke through the class ceiling to become the greatest naval captain of his age.

In Whitby, the young Cook was an eager apprentice on coal ships before joining the Navy - and James attempts his own apprenticeship aboard tall ship Bessie Ellen in Cornwall.

Cook was the first European to chart New Zealand and the east coast of Australia. At the Natural History Museum, James gets to actually touch the incredible creatures brought back aboard the Endeavour, and learn about the unorthodox collecting methods employed by chief scientist Joseph Banks.

Cook is renowned for being – at first anyway – a caring and considerate Captain. James experiences the strict measures Cook put in place to preserve the sailors' health – including all manner of delicious scurvy cures, and dancing the hornpipe. But at least he gets to taste all the ship's alcohol too.

On his second voyage, Cook lent a hand in solving the greatest navigational puzzle of the age. James visits the Royal Museums in Greenwich to scratch his head over the Longitude problem and see the failed attempts that led to the H4 chronometer that finally cracked it.

But Cook's triumphant voyages undoubtedly paved the way for the destruction of the civilisations he encountered, and British occupation of their lands. James grapples with Cook's intentions and culpability – as indeed, did Cook himself.

Feb 27, 2025

Recent Episodes

EpisodeNameAirdate
S01E03Captain CookFeb 27, 2025
S01E02Sir Walter RaleighFeb 20, 2025
S01E01Christopher ColumbusFeb 13, 2025
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Cast

James May

James May

plays himself
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Characters

James May

James May

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Also known as

  • The Great Explorers with James May

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