Engineering Giants (2012) Episode Rating Graph

One aircraft transformed the world. With 2 decks carrying over 500 passengers, and wings the width of a football field, it was twice the size of any airline before it. The Boeing 747 is an engineering marvel. Take a look at the magnificent engineering of this machine.

Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, tell the story as an entire North Sea Gas installation, the Lima Platform, is pulled from the sea by floating cranes, brought back to Newcastle, and then torn into tiny pieces for recycling. But the platform is not just thousands of tons of steel. It was once home to the men and women called the North Sea Tigers. They pioneered gas and oil exploration in the UK and now some of them are ending their careers as part of the decommissioning process. As the gas platform is stripped down these engineers reveal the secrets of this vital part of our energy supplies, but they also reveal the emotional bonds to the engineering marvel that formed such an important part of their lives.

Engineer turned comedian Tom Wrigglesworth and Rob Bell, rising star of mechanical engineering, climb on board the Pride of Bruges, a massive, 25,000 tonne North Sea ferry as it is brought into dry dock in Newcastle. It has been ploughing the route from Hull to Zeebrugge for over a quarter of a century and is now in need of the biggest overhaul of its life in an attempt to prolong its seaworthiness for another decade. Tom and Rob also travel to Europe's largest ship breaking yard in Belgium, to discover what happens to ships at the end of their lives. As they watch massive hulls being torn apart, they gain more insights into how a ship works and how their massive carcasses are recycled.