Great Canal Journeys

Timothy West and Prunella Scales embark on another waterway adventure, starting in the romantic city of Oxford, where they began their courtship many years ago. They follow the gentle contours of the Oxford Canal through the Cherwell Valley, where they meet novelist Philip Pullman and are joined by their son, fellow actor Samuel West.

Built nearly a century before the British canal system, the Canal du Midi in the south of France has been designated a world heritage site. Tim and Pru explore a picturesque stretch, as is it meanders toward the Mediterranean. They visit the town of Beziers and the Malpas Tunnel- Europe's first navigable canal tunnel- and taste the delights of lamb's brain fritters.

In a coast-to-coast adventure from Edinburgh to Glasgow, Tim and Pru travel along the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, taking in Scotland's highest aqueduct and longest canal tunnel, as well some striking examples of 21st-century engineering and monumental sculptures.