Industrial Revolution's wildest flex? Rivers that go uphill.
A look at Britain's beloved canal network via a fact-filled cruise along the first superhighways of the Industrial Revolution. In the age before mechanisation, a frenzy of canal-building saw a new army of workers carve out the British landscape, digging out hundreds of miles of waterways using picks, shovels and muscle.
Cinematography
Drone shots of aqueducts that'll make you gasp.
Writing
Mark Benton's narration: warm, witty, never dry.
Production
Recreated digging sequences hit harder than expected.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The term 'navvy' comes from 'navigator' — originally canal diggers, later railway builders. Same brutal job, new century.
Britain's canal revival began with 1940s holiday boaters; now 35,000 boats are registered. The documentary barely touches this legacy — arguably its biggest miss.
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