For the last eight years I've had the privilege of being the drone pilot on Canal Boat Diaries with TV presenter Robbie Cumming, capturing the UK's waterways from above — and we're now eight series in.
It's a unique role working as a very small team: just myself, Robbie and producer Stuart Woodman travelling along the tranquil canals of the North to the bustling waterways of the South.
Although a simple concept to film, it's extremely challenging with the team based on a small narrowboat, "The Naughty Lass" — keeping our kit to the bare minimum.
Aerial Cinematics from the Narrowboat
Working days on the shoot are like most filming days — long and very hard work, often shooting 12-hour days and staying away from home for many days at a time. But it's worth it!
There's no other show I've ever worked on that gives you the freedom to film what we film. Miles and miles of walking behind the narrowboat capturing images that are seldom seen by the boaters, as often the canals are tree lined. Visibility is just looking straight down the front of the boat, but we see everything from the air.
Distant castles, stately homes, lakes, countryside, towns and cities. It's just spectacular. Plus, it keeps you very fit — averaging 12 miles a day on foot.
Not giving too much away about how we film on the show, but from a drone pilot's perspective I keep the kit to just a small backpack containing enough batteries to last around 4 hours, several drones — usually three as back-up — and a DJI Power 1000 V2 to keep the batteries topped up for the day so we never run out of power, with an Ecoflow as backup if needed.
This way we keep everything independent from the narrowboat's power supply — we wouldn't want to accidentally blow the boat's fuses, which happened on the first series, oops!
You've always got to be careful flying from a boat, even one just moving at 4 miles per hour, so most of the time we used the tow path to fly from, with kind permission from the Canal & River Trust. However, there are times when we've travelled along rivers with no tow paths, and it's then that you have to have your wits about you.
Luckily Stuart was a great help and often does a hand catch of the drones, freeing me up to pilot the drone back to the boat. It works a treat, and no fingers lost so far.
The Drones Behind the Shots
We've used a real mix of drones over the eight series so far — initially flying the DJI Inspire 2 with the X5S camera set-up, but as the years have gone by the drones have got smaller and smarter. These days the DJI Mavic 4 Pro handles the vast majority of the filming, backed up by the DJI Mini 5 Pro for the tightest, busiest spots.
In extremely busy towns and cities, or when I need to fly closer to the narrowboat with the public close by, I'll fly the little Mini 5 Pro as it's under the 250g weight limit and keeps things safe and legal.
For more details of the kit we use, check out our Drones & Cameras page.
For the first four series on BBC Four, each one took around 20 drone filming days, with Robbie and Stu filling in the gaps as they travelled along the waterways to make four half-hour episodes per series.
When the show switched channels to U&Yesterday and expanded to ten 60-minute episodes, filming days increased to around 50 per series — with Robbie and Stu filming on the non-drone days. An incredible effort all round, and one that's now clocked up several hundred drone filming days across the run of the show.
If you'd like to know more about Robbie Cumming and his boat The Naughty Lass, why not pop over to his website and see what he gets up to — so much more than just a boater. robbiecumming.com
Is Any of It Staged?
It's the question I get asked more than any other — people assume the calamities must be set up, that Robbie can't really be falling in the canal, running aground, or getting the boat wedged in a lock quite that often.
Here's the truth: nothing is ever staged. The reason it looks like we catch everything is exactly because we don't stop filming. Cameras roll for 12 hours a day, every day, whether the shot is a sweeping drone pass over a stately home or Robbie fumbling with a windlass in the rain. When something goes wrong — and on a working narrowboat, something always goes wrong — we're already rolling, so we're simply there to catch it as it happens.
It's not luck and it's not scripted. It's just Robbie, being Robbie, on a boat that has never once let him have an easy day. Eight series in, we've learned to expect the unexpected — we just make sure the cameras never stop long enough to miss it.
The Journey So Far: Series 1–8
Eight series in, the route has covered a genuinely huge stretch of England and Wales — here's where we've been.
The original journey that introduced audiences to Robbie's life on the waterways — a mix of rural canals and urban routes as the format found its feet.
Starting at Ellesmere Port, through the historic waterways of the North West and into the Midlands, finishing in the heart of Birmingham's canal network.
Starting in Wigan, through Lancashire and into Yorkshire — industrial heritage and open countryside — finishing in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Launching in Sheffield, crossing key Midlands routes, finishing at Braunston — widely regarded as the historic centre of the UK canal system.
Beginning at Braunston, south along the Grand Union Canal — key junctions, rural stretches and increasingly built-up areas — finishing at Little Tring.
Starting at Napton Junction, Warwickshire, moving between open countryside and tighter urban waterways, finishing in Aylesbury.
Beginning in Llangollen, North Wales, crossing some of the UK's most scenic and technically challenging waterways, concluding in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire.
Currently deep in production as I write this. Can't give away where we've been or what's happened yet — you'll have to wait for it to hit screens — but it's shaping up to be some of the most spectacular flying of the whole series so far.
Coming SoonEight series, hundreds of miles of canal, and still no two days on the water the same. Watch this space.
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