As part of Big Blue Week, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and a team of marine enthusiasts are following the animals arriving and thriving in UK waters this summer. In this first programme, Hugh finds out where we can meet the UK's dolphins and whales. Killer whales, humpbacks and a superpod of over 300 bottlenose dolphins are all in the team's sights. This summer, an extraordinary wildlife gathering is occurring all around the UK; our seas are attracting marine life from across the globe - and everyone wants a glimpse of our megafauna. Lindsey Chapman is following a superpod of 300 dolphins feeding in Cardigan Bay. She's joining locals hoping to spot the sea's biggest show-offs. Further north, the whales are arriving. Humpback sightings are on the increase, but how easy is it to catch one on film? Wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones is reliving a mysterious whale stranding. Meanwhile, Hugh is investigating an industry that once decimated the population of whales in our seas and abroad. Commercial whaling ended in the UK as recently as 1963. Hugh finds out why Britain relied so heavily on whale products and meets the men sent to the Antarctic to hunt ocean giants on an industrial scale. Over in America, there is also a unique chance to go behind the scenes with Matt Baker and the Big Blue Live team as the ocean's biggest animals arrive in Monterey Bay, California.

Big Blue Week continues as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall takes his daily dip into the UK's extraordinary marine life. Hugh and the team are celebrating the arrival of our sharks. During summer over 30 species are found in the UK - including blue sharks, smoothhounds and basking sharks - so where and how can they be spotted? Lindsey Chapman is on the hunt for mermaids' purses - shark-egg cases that are washed up on our shore. Can she also find live shark embryos in amongst Devon's seaweed? Wildlife photographer Richard Taylor-Jones focuses his camera on surprising shark bait: plankton. These microscopic organisms bring hungry basking sharks to the UK. Using a new lens, Richard brings this extraordinary micro-world into sharp focus, but first he has to board a ferry bound for France - the channel's passenger boats have been collecting plankton samples for scientists at SAHFOS for over 70 years. Richard finds out why. Meanwhile, Hugh is trying to make up for a childhood misdemeanour. As a young boy, he fished for sharks off Cornwall's coast. Now, older and wiser, he hopes to meet the blue shark population under very different circumstances. Will he get chance to make amends?

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall celebrates the amazing marine life found in the UK's seas as Big Blue Week continues. In this episode, Hugh's focus is on our seabirds. From gannets to guillemots, puffins to storm petrels - eight million seabirds descend on the UK coast every summer. Hugh meets the cutest of all - puffin chicks, known as pufflings. He also catches up with the Big Blue Live team in America. The UK is a bird magnet, and millions of seabirds arrive here to breed in the summer months. Lindsey Chapman is meeting scientists tagging our largest seabird, the northern gannet. Using 3G technology, they are able to track gannets in real time. So where do they go to feed? Lindsey discovers a potential new threat being built in their flight path. Richard Taylor-Jones corrects a commonly held misconception - there is no such thing as a seagull. Instead, the UK is home to eight distinct species of gull. But why have these birds become our feathered foes? Richard tries to change their reputation as the scourge of the seaside. Meanwhile, Hugh is heading offshore to bid farewell to baby puffins. Known as pufflings, these chicks look like balls of fluff and are as cute as their name suggests. Hugh finds out they are tough too. After just a few months on dry land, they leave our shores and spend three long years out at sea. Hugh is given the special task of helping them on their way.

It's Big Blue Week, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is celebrating the UK's extraordinary array of marine life. Hugh and the team focus on the UK's seashore. What secret sea life is waiting to be discovered on our island's edge? From seahorses to hermit crabs, otters to oysters, limpets to jellyfish - our shore is full of weird and wonderful creatures. Hugh looks back at film footage from his childhood, reawakening his passion for rock pooling. Wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones goes on the hunt for a marine monster - the barrel jellyfish. Lindsey Chapman heads to Lyme Bay, a Marine Protected Area, to explore how we can conserve our seabed and the marine life relying on it. Hugh relives a childhood passion as he rolls up his trousers to take us rock pooling. He discovers that some of the tiny creatures found on our beaches are, in fact, our sea's superheroes - raising the alarm to scientists investigating the gradual rise in temperature of our seas. We also link up with the Big Blue team in Monterey Bay, America, as they offer a ringside seat to one of the greatest animal gatherings on earth.

As Big Blue Week continues, this is the last chance to join Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and the team in their celebration of the UK's marine life this summer. In this episode Hugh focuses on the UK's grey and common seals. Our archipelago is home to one of the most significant grey seal populations in the world - but can Hugh meet them close up? Nearly half of the world's grey seals choose to live in the UK. Hugh heads to the island of Lundy to find out why grey seals are so attracted to life in the UK. Lindsey Chapman is helping to return a stranded seal pup to the sea, and wildlife cameraman Richard Taylor-Jones is tracking down a group of common seals living in a surprisingly urban setting. Summer is pupping season for the common seal, but can Richard get a shot of these shy and skittish creatures? There's also a final chance to go behind the scenes with Matt Baker et al, as Big Blue Live welcome an extraordinary gathering of animals in Monterey Bay, America.