Ross Kemp: Deep Sea Treasure Hunter — Season 1

Inspired by the stories of his shipwrecked relatives, Ross heads up to the Royal Navy's historic naval base in the far northerly Orkney Islands, Scapa Flow. Here, Ross and dive supervisor Neil Brock link up with expert local dive guide Emily Turton and head out into the water to dive on Second World War wrecks. Ross and Emily explore a captured German scout ship called the F2 and recover a slew of artefacts that could be linked to Ross's two relatives who died serving in the Royal Navy during the conflict. Ross investigates how Winston Churchill hit upon a revolutionary tactic to defend Scapa Flow from U-boat attacks, as the wreck of the sunken SS Tabarka finally gives up its secrets.

To take on the deepest wrecks in Scapa Flow, Ross needs to successfully navigate decompression training before heading out with local dive guide Emily Turton to dive on one of the biggest of the Kaiser's Imperial war ships from the First World War, SMS Karlsruhe. As he explores the eerie relic, Ross tries to understand how and why the German fleet ended up on the Scottish seabed, when they had already surrendered months earlier. Having resolved one enduring mystery, he then heads 600 miles south to meet with ex-serviceman Mark Culwick and dive on an experimental British aircraft carrier submarine built in the 1920s called the M2. This unique vessel was lost in shocking circumstances, with all hands. During his dive Ross starts to understand the horrifying truth of exactly how and why the 60 men on board never came home.

The actor is joined by advanced technical diver Emily Turton in north Devon, as he prepares to dive down on the wreck of a sunken steam ship. Iona II was heading to America in the early 1860s, when it went down with a mystery cargo on board that the owners went to extensive efforts to recover in secret. The pair embark on a night dive with the hope it will reveal what the owners so desperately tried to covertly retrieve. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Ross also meets with a maritime historian who has uncovered Iona II's shocking purpose. Ross and maritime archaeologist Mallory Haas head to Plymouth to dive on a newly discovered wreck, and to uncover a staggering artefact that links the site to one of the most controversial and censored periods in British history - the transatlantic slave trade.

Ross is joined by maritime archaeologist Mallory Haas in Plymouth to deep dive on the wreck site of 36-gun Nelsonian frigate HMS Amethyst - a legendary battle cruiser, launched in 1799, which proved one of the most successful and prolific of the Napoleonic wars. Ross makes an incredible discovery using an underwater metal detector, and the historic item reveals why the ship was such a potent weapon of war, but also gives clues as to how and why it sank.