STEVE BACKSHALL: Whales... ...ocean giants, ancient mariners.

Their songs, majesty and sheer size fill us with joy and awe.

In their vast shadow, a human can feel very small.

They were here long before us, caring for their young... hunting... voyaging.

But now we are changing their world.

So now I want to see through their eyes, meeting them on their terms to find how their future and ours are inseparable.

I've dived with whales and dolphins right across the globe, and have seen just how much we're changing their world.

(WHALE CLICKING) (WHALE GRUNTS) The noise we make in our seas is drowning their voices out.

Modern fishing practices can deplete the food they rely on.

And a changing climate is forcing them into longer migrations, putting their young at risk.

Now I've come to my home seas, to find out what we can do to adapt and help ensure their future success.

Our wild coastline is the last true wilderness in Great Britain and to my mind for majesty and beauty, equals anywhere on the planet.

It's also a magnet for whales.

Twenty-eight different types have been recorded here.

That's around one third of the species in the world.

(SINGING) Some, like orca... (ORCA WHISTLING) ...Risso's dolphins and bottlenose dolphins live here all year round.

Others, like humpback whales, fin whales, and sei whales are just passing through.

But the future of all of them hangs in the balance.

The whale is considered a great conservation success story.

They survived the era of commercial whaling when we slaughtered more than three million of them.

But the return of the whale has coincided with monumental changes for our planet.

Threats like climate change, disturbance and pollution are altering the whales' world faster than ever before.

Now it's time for us to act.

So I want to meet the people who are working hard to find solutions, and to discover what we can all do to secure a brighter future for whales and for us.

Our seas might be home to a huge range of whales and dolphins.

But the oceans are vast and much of whales' lives are hidden from view.

Finding out how many there are and how they're faring is an enormous challenge.

But there is a global hotspot for cetacean life... in Scotland.

So that's where I'm starting my journey.

I'm joining a pioneering team of scientists who have perfected the art of finding whales, using not just sight, but sound.

The next few days, we're gonna be at sea in the Silurian, a state-of-the-art research vessel which is specialising in whale acoustics.

It is the perfect platform for monitoring whales in these waters.

Morning, you all.

MAN: How you doing, Steve?

Whales make all kinds of different sounds.. (HUMPBACK WHALE SINGING) -...from humpback Song... -(CONTINUES SINGING) ...to the complex clicks of sperm whales.

(SPERM WHALE CLICKING) And here on the Silurian scientist Jenny Hampson is using these sounds as a way of finding them.

So this is our hydrophone, it acts like an underwater microphone and allows us to monitor the acoustic environment underneath the waves.

BACKSHALL: We don't know what we're gonna find on our three-day journey.

But it's not long before we have our first encounter.

We have company!

A pod of common dolphins.

Utterly spectacular.

They're set apart by the golden hourglass shape that runs down their sides, and we have a decent-sized pod here.

They're super, super social, very playful, uber intelligent.

Dolphins are also the masters of communication.

(DOLPHINS WHISTLE) Over 6,000 kilometres away in The Bahamas, I experienced their use of sound firsthand.

Free diving allowed me to enter their world as silently as possible... (DOLPHINS WHISTLE) ...and hear and even feel their vocalisations.

(DOLPHINS CLICKING) (CLICKING CONTINUES) Scientists here are decoding their language.

(DOLPHINS WHISTLE) They've found that whistles are used for long-distance communication.

(WHISTLING CONTINUES) And as calls between mothers and calves when they're separated.

(WHISTLING CONTINUES) And burst pulses, packets of clicks spaced tightly together tell us about the dolphin's emotional state, from aggressive to amorous.

(CLICKING AND GRUNTING) As our seas become awash with man-made noise, dolphins intricate communications can be drowned out.

(PROPELLOR WHIRRING) So it's more important than evr that we better understand them.

And here on the Silurian in Scottish seas, I want to take it a step furthr by listening into the hydrophoe to hear another incredible way they use sound.

-(DOLPHINS WHISTLING) -That's so clear.

-(DOLPHINS WHISTLING) -Absolutely amazing.

(WHISTLING CONTINUES) It's a kind of range of flicks and splats, which is echolocation.

This is bio sonar, which is just a way of building up a picture of things in your world without using sight.

(DOLPHINS WHISTLING) Every sound they record helps Jenny and the team build a picture of how many whales and dolphins are in these waters.

Data that can be used to better protect them.

The study of whales and dolphis has been aided by technology invented for military use.

In the 1950s, the American Navy detected a mysterious sound, a metallic like "boing."

(METALLIC WHIRRING) For decades no one could work out where it came from, and it was only when scientists started to listen to the ocean that they were able to solve the mystery.

The source was an animal that's found in British waters but is one of the hardest to spot... the minke whale.

The minke whale can be really tricky to spot.

They're quick, they don't have an evident blow or spout, and so the best way of finding them, is the old-fashioned way, watching out for the characteristic shape of their dorsal fin as they crest the surface.

HAMPSON: Behind us!

BACKSHALL: Oh, wow, look!

Just there.

Very close.

Sleek and streamlined, minke whales can dive for up to 20 minutes, only surfacing for an instant before heading down again.

(SHUTTER CLICKS) It's in this fleeting moment that Jenny tries to take photographs.

Minke whales have notches and nicks that they have in their dorsal fins.

That makes them really easy to recognise individuals.

Currently, we've got 260 identifiable minke whales in our catalogue, and the more we see them, the more we learn.

BACKSHALL: During the last century, over 130,000 minke whales were killed in the North Atlantic by the whaling industry, the most of all whale species in this region.

Jenny's visual IDs are an essential tool to help us find out how they're faring now.

As I've seen, Scottish waters are a hotspot for cetaceans.

But some species found here are fighting for survival.

(ORCA WHISTLING) My mission to reveal what we can do to help whales and dolphins thrive in the modern world, has brought me to British seas.

With bountiful shallows and deep ocean hunting grounds, predators flock here.

And the most formidable... is the orca, or killer whale.

They're supremely intelligent.

And that means they could be well-equipped to adapt in the face of man-made challenges.

They learn bespoke techniques for hunting different species in different parts of the worl, depending on what food is available.

But sometimes what they hunt comes as something of a surprise.

While observing orca in northern Norway, I witnessed them targeting a very unlikely prey.

What... What is that?

They're hunting something.

(BIRD SQUAWKS) These orca have turned their attention to a tiny sea bird called a little auk.

(SQUAWKING) (SQUAWKING) (SQUAWKING) You can see it jumping and leaping out of the water, trying to escape them and then diving down.

(SQUAWKING) (ORCA WHISTLING) It almost looks like they're playing with their foo.

But there's likely to be more to it than that.

One suggestion is that it's teaching their calves so they're learning skills that they might use in later life on bigger, more substantial prey.

For now, though, the lesson's over, and the little auk's fate is sealed.

Orca may appear brutal, even cruel, but that is a part of their creative and experimental way of finding food.

They're always testing the boundaries, learning, and ultimately adapting.

But this can also lead them into harm's way.

Something that can be seen in action on the Scottish coast, where every year in early summer, groups of orca return.

Some are fish-feeding orca from Iceland.

But once here, they switch, super-sizing their prey to seals.

Seals are abundant on these shores.

The coves and inlets offer shelter.

And beneath the surface, precious kelp forests full of fish, provide plenty of food.

A place to investigate anything that catches their eye.

Right now... that's me.

But unfortunately for the seal, they're a target for orca.

Swimming close to the shoreline the orca search every cove.

Turning sideways, hides their dorsal fins and allows them to approach undetected.

Keeping track of an agile seal is no easy task.

The seal is shared among the pod.

But eating marine mammals has a hidden cost.

Chemical pollutants are causing serious problems for marine life all over the world.

Among the most insidious are a group known as PCBs.

"Forever chemicals" once used in electrical equipment.

(SHIP HORN HONKING) Even though they were banned here in the 1980s, they're still finding their way into our waters.

These chemicals travel over great distances... and concentrate as they travel up the food chan into those feeding on the largest prey, the apex predators like orca.

(ORCA WHISTLING) They are now one of the most polluted animals in the world.

Exposure to PCBs can cause a range of health problems, including cancer and infertility.

And some scientists think that within 100 years, these contaminants could cause half of the world's orca populations to collapse.

It's a shocking prediction.

And one that's already being played out here in Scotland with one particular group, the West Coast Community.

Like lots of the groups found here, the West Coast Community once had many members.

But in recent years their numbers have dwindled.

In 2016, the body of one of the females in the grou, Lulu, was washed ashore.

Her autopsy revealed that she had a 100 times safe levels of PCBs, making her one of the most contaminated cetaceans ever recorded.

Lulu never had a calf.

No calves have been born within the West Coast Community for 31 years.

And it's now thought that only two members of this group survive.

Known as John Coe, and Aquarius, both elderly males.

For orca enthusiast Steve Truluck it was this group's predicament that triggered a lifelong obsession.

I was told the story about them, and I was just, yeah, just completely blown away.

And I just kind of made it my mission to make sure that I saw them before, before they actually go before the last two go.

BACKSHALL: With a distinctive notch at the base of his dorsal fin, there's no mistaking John Coe.

And after years of trying to find him in 2019, Steve finally had his wish granted.

TRULUCK: It's John Coe!

That's John Coe!

See the massive net?

BACKSHALL: This encounter led to Steve becoming an advocate for orca and a whale-spotting guide.

Now he helps others experience the joy of seeing them and understand more about their plight.

TRULUCK: Look at that!

We've got John Coe and Aquarius.

We've got the ultimate next to us.

This is unbelievable!

-(ALL EXCLAIMING) -TRULUCK: Oh, look at his tail!

(TRULUCK LAUGHS) Who wouldn't be amazed at seeing that?

It's... it's incredible.

They're just gorgeous.

I mean, they're just... They're just amazing animals, and you just... just incredible being in their presence.

BACKSHALL: As exhilarating as seeing them was for Steve, it's an experience tinged with tragedy.

Highly polluted and with no females left to breed with, there is no way to save this group.

And it's not just orca affected by chemical pollution... other top predators can succumb, too.

It's always a sad sight to see a majestic marine predator like this washed ashore.

This is a Risso's dolphin.

There's no obvious cause of what killed the animal, but in so many places, when a top of the line predator like this washes up on shore, the levels of pollutants in their body are so high, that they have to be disposed of like toxic waste.

The imminent demise of the West Coast Community is surely proof that we have no time to lose.

Many countries have agreed to eliminate PCB waste, but progress is woefully slow.

With an ever increasing number of new chemicals that could have yet untold consequences, it's imperative that we prevent them from entering our oceans in the first place.

Only then can we help ensure orcas survival in our seas.

While Scotland's orca are under fire, elsewhere, new revelations are giving us hope that some species may find other extraordinary ways to succeed.

(WHISTLING) We're learning all the time just how diverse our whales and dolphins are.

(WHALES CLICKING) But sometimes a discovery is made that challenges everything we thought we knew.

For the next part of my journe, I'm heading to the Isle of Lews in Scotland's Outer Hebrides because the dolphins here have been spotted doing something remarkable.

Risso's dolphins!

Look at that!

(RISSO'S DOLPHINS WHISTLING) Risso's dolphins are unmistakable.

They're stocky with blunt head, and bear the criss-cross of battle scars.

Often caused by rough and tumbe with other Risso's dolphins.

Risso's are generally quite shy, and that makes them really difficult to study.

In fact, finding out anything about their lives has been a real struggle.

Luckily in the Hebrides, there's one scientist who's made it her life's work to get to know them.

(SEA BIRDS SQUAWKING) Nicola Hodgins has spent 14 years studying Risso's dolphins in these waters.

HODGINS: So this is definitely one of the Risso's favourite spots.

They've been coming here repeatedly.

Year after year we're getting the same individual dolphins.

It's a really important place for Risso's.

BACKSHALL: So you kind of get to know individual personalities -and characters?

-Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I guess that would mean that you would be very kind of hard-wired to pick out anything unique in individual animals.

Indeed.

Yeah.

BACKSHALL: In 2011, Nicola spotted something she'd never seen before.

We had some dolphins come in front of us, and initially we thought to ourself they looked like Risso's dolphin.

And then there was a bottlenose dolphin, and then all of a sudden there was an individual who just looked completely different to any dolphin that I've ever seen before, and any species that we know are, are in these waters.

BACKSHALL: Even though it was far out at sea, Nicola managed to snap a photo of the mystery dolphin.

HODGINS: We could see this individual was much larger than a Risso's dolphin.

So Risso's have got a very blunt head.

They don't have a discernible beak, whereas bottlenose dolphins have quite a discernible beak.

And this individual had a tiny, tiny, little kind of snub nose.

And we just knew we had something really special.

BACKSHALL: What Nicola had discovered was a hybrid dolphin, produced by a bottlenose femal, and a Risso's male.

But then it goes a step weirder, right, because if you have hybrid animals like that, they're supposed to be sterile.

They're not supposed to be able to breed.

No.

Whereas we now have evidence of these hybrid dolphins actually reproducing and having young of their own.

Would it be too much to say that this could be evolution in action, and we could be seeing the birth of a completely new species?

I don't think it's too much to say that, and I think a one off, you can maybe just put it down to chance.

But this is a repetitive thing that's happening with multiple individuals.

BACKSHALL: The reasons these dolphins have hybridised aren't yet clear, but Nicola thinks it could poit to something unsettling.

Is there a possibility that this could be a response to a larger changes in the environment?

HODGINS: Absolutely.

We're seeing a lot of changes in distribution of different species.

So possibly the waters here are no longer perfect for either Risso's or bottlenose for one reason or another, but they might be perfect for something that's kind of in-between the two.

Yeah, absolutely.

BACKSHALL: Evidence suggests that whales and dolphins all over the world are venturing further towards the Poles, and scientists think this could be down to climate change.

Warming oceans can radically alter whales' habitats, pushing them into new waters where they mix with new specie.

There is still much we need to learn, until we can fully understand the impact of climate change.

But we do know that the UK is a place where the movement of whales can be studied.

Because some spectacular specis pass through here on their mighty migrations.

And when they do, local enthusiasts head out to spot them, making valuable contributions to science.

Some keep watch over whales from land.

Others take to the water.

The sea kayak is the perfect tool for the citizen scientist.

So more and more members of the public armed with nothing more than a camera and a paddle are heading out into our coastal seas and learning more about our whales and dolphins, and the information they're bringing back is leading to a much greater understanding of the world of the whale.

In the far southwest of Britai, one local resident has been doing exactly that.

Rupert Kirkwood has made it his life's mission to try to get close to whales by paddling around every corner of this coastline.

KIRKWOOD: I absolutely love calm water.

So I go to whichever beach around Devon and Cornwall is the calmest on the day.

And I paddle off out to sea and may not come back for ten or 12 hours.

BACKSHALL: Rupert always has his camera close at hand to capture any marine life he sees.

As I'm paddling along silently, when there's no wind, you can hear the creatures.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING) You can hear the... (PUFFS) The puff of the porpoise.

(PUFFS) You can hear the splash of dolphins.

If you're really lucky, you can hear the blow of a minke whale.

(MINKE WHALE BLOWING) I feel very honoured to be surrounded by these amazing creatures.

By far and away, my most, erm, exciting encounter I have had so far is a very close meeting off the far tip of Cornwall.

I heard a (EXHALES DEEPLY) in the distance.

So I sat, actually, with my camera up, ready and running.

Suddenly, the fin of a humpback, the pectoral fin came out, slapped the water.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING) This humpback then proceeded to swim all around my kayak, engulfing these huge bait balls of fish.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING) BACKSHALL: Because humpback whales can be identified by the markings on the underside of their tail flukes, scientists were able to use Rupert's photographs to catalogue this individual for the very first time.

KIRKWOOD: It's rather nice that my humpback is now the most widely seen humpback around the UK.

BACKSHALL: It was also one of the first individual humpbacks to be identified in English waters.

But since then there have been over 100 recorded around the United Kingdom.

Thanks to people like Rupert, we're starting to learn just how important these waters might be as a stopping off point for passing migrants like humpbacks.

Adding to the growing evidence that these seas should have greater protection for whales.

Humpbacks might appear to be doing well, but there's no doubt that our changing world is putting all our whales and dolphins under huge pressure.

And in the final part of my journey, I want to show how, even if you can't venture out to sea, any one of us can still do something to help protect them.

BACKSHALL: I've seen firsthand how whales are adapting to survive in the modern world.

(CLICKING) From the ways they communicate... and hunt to the epic voyages they undertake.

I've also witnessed how we impact their world.

Our whaling industry nearly wiped some species out in the past, and the pollution in our seas threatens their survival in the future.

Now they need our help.

Luckily, many people are taking notice and doing what they can.

And at Chanonry Point in Scotland, there's a perfect spot to witness the passion people have for these animals.

Chanonry Point is a narrow spit of land jutting out into the Moray Firth.

At the exact right time of the tide, salmon pour through here and the predators follow.

Making it the best place in the nation to see dolphins from the land.

Oh!

These are bottlenose dolphins.

Around 200 are found here in the Moray Firth.

A sea inlet that fills with salmon as they run from the ocean towards neighbouring rivers.

We have the biggest bottlenose in the world in our waters.

They could be over 3.5 metres in length, even getting close to four.

And that is a big animal.

At times they are so close, it feels like you could reach out and touch them.

There is something so, so special about this place, having a pod of wild predators hunting mere metres away from the dog walkers and people snapping selfies.

But every once in a while you have to look back and see the human faces, see the effect that it's having on people, the sense of pure joy, and I can feel it myself.

Look!

(WOMAN EXCLAIMING) Did you see that?

BACKSHALL: It's a time when their world and ours truly meets.

Not many places in the world that happens.

But it's not just the public that come here.

Experts are also drawn to these waters in the hope of learning more.

Barbara Cheney specialises in monitoring bottlenose dolphins and has tracked entire dynasties in the Moray Firth.

We're quite a special project here because it's one of the longest running in the world.

Er, they've been studying the bottlenose dolphins in the Moray Firth since 1989.

And actually, we're into our fourth generation.

Barbara uses ground-breaking technology to assess the health of individual dolphins.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING) BACKSHALL: Her camera is equipped with lasers, which can measure the dolphins.

And she sends up drones to get detailed images of their width, a great indication of how healthy they are.

The big goal with science is data over time.

What are you starting to learn now?

CHENEY: Although they're still a small population, there's only just over 200, erm, actually, they're doing quite well compared to other cetacean populations around the world.

So we know that the abundance has been increasing over the last three decades.

We know that reproduction's been increasing as well, so it's actually all really good news, which is great.

BACKSHALL: One of the reasons Barbara thinks the Dolphins are doing so well here is that thanks in part to her research, the Moray Firth has been granted extra protection for marine life.

That means disturbance from activities like fishing, development and boat traffic are kept to a minimum.

We know that when we protect areas of our ocean and create safe havens, it can do wonders for whale populations around the world.

In New Zealand, the Port of Auckland used to be a hotspot for ship strikes with whales like Brydes.

But local researchers and the government worked together to introduce lower speed limits for boats, making sure whales have time to move out of the way.

And in Mexico, anti-hunting laws and restrictions on fishing gear have created an eco-tourism industry that sees grey whales better protected.

And now actively seeking out human contact.

Our individual actions can add up to make a big difference.

And here in Scotland, the protected waters of the Moray Firth seem to offer the resident bottlenose everything they need.

But even so, they can still get into trouble.

During high tide, the bays are filled with water.

But when the tide recedes, which it does at speed, there's nothing but dry land.

This expanse of sandbars and mudflats and salt marshes is Nigg Bay.

It's a wonderland for bird life and seals.

And in 2016, it was the setting for a real-life dolphin drama.

It was here that a young female bottlenose dolphin, known as Spirtle, was stranded.

Passers-by Michael Robertson and Lorraine Culloch were the first people to spot her.

CULLOCH: Oh, she just looked so sad.

I've never seen anything so sad.

And it actually looked like -it was crying.

-ROBERTSON: Aye.

CULLOCH: It was quite emotional.

ROBERTSON: I'd probably go as far as to say it was the saddest fish I'd ever seen.

CULLOCH: Yeah.

ROBERTSON: It was unbelievable.

Even looking at the photos now, -it's awful.

-CULLOCH: So emotional.

BACKSHALL: She was suffering from sunburn, with the skin on her side beginning to bubble up.

Michael knew she needed professional help so he called the British Divers Marine Life Rescue Service, or BDMLR.

Experts in helping stranded whales and dolphins.

CULLOCH: When the BDMLR comes, they included us in the rescue.

We'd monitored her breathing.

But basically 14 hours we had to wait until the tide come back in so they could refloat her.

We'd slept in the van in a lay-by all night.

BACKSHALL: The next morning, when the tide eventually came back in, Spirtle was refloated.

It seemed unlikely she'd still have enough strength to swim.

But to everyone's relief, she headed slowly out into open water.

There's no doubt that Michael and Lorraine's quick thinking and the rescue team's dedicated care saved her life.

But no one knew whether she'd survive the ordeal.

In the coming months and years, her sunburn wound, which at first looked deadly, healed into a distinctive scar, like a paint splash.

And the best possible sign that she's returned to full health is that she's recently had a calf of her own.

Here at Chanonry Point, all eyes are on the water.

Hoping to get a glimpse of her.

Spirtle!

It's Spirtle!

Oh, my gosh, I don't believe it.

Wow.

Well, so we've just had a glimpse of one of the most special individual dolphins in our waters.

A true tale of survival.

An animal that has gone through stress and pain, that it's almost impossible to imagine.

And is back here in front of us, alive and well.

Evidence that these animals will battle against impossible odds to survive.

And now, she's back with a calf of her own.

Just doesn't get any better than this.

Whales and dolphins have the unparalleled ability to fill us with joy.

And my journey with them is something that will stay with me for a lifetime.

It's also been a wake-up call.

I've seen how our actions are threatening their world.

(CLICKING) I've also seen how people are doing their very best to help them.

Even the smallest action, be it making a phone call or reporting a sighting can lead to meaningful change.

Whales are adapting as well as they can.

Now we need to adapt, and fast, if we're to give them and us a brighter future.

They've been around for 50 million years, and they could be around for 50 million more.

But only if we ensure the health of their seas.

BACKSHALL: To capture the astonishing diversity of whales that are in British waters, we took to land... sea... and air.

But when it came to tracking orca, we knew we'd have our work cut out.

These incredible predators roam up to 160 kilometres a day in the search for food.

So for our wildlife cameraman, Louis Labrom, pinpointing their location was to be no easy task.

The challenge we have set ourselves is quite tricky.

Where do we go?

Where's the best spot?

Where are they going to come to?

It's a difficult challenge.

BACKSHALL: Luckily we weren't doing it on our own.

We were joining a network of around 200 volunteers, including local people, and those taking part in a citizen science event called Orca Watch.

They record any orca they see, giving us some idea of how they're faring here.

These are photos from two kilometres away.

BACKSHALL: Orca enthusiast Steve Truluck was also on hand.

The whole thing is, you have to be in it for the long game.

And you have to wait.

BACKSHALL: With the whole of the Caithness coast and the Northern Isles to cover, the volunteers face a daunting task.

Luckily, the landscape gives them a helping hand.

There are some parts of the coastline here that almost appear to be natural lookout posts.

Any orca coming, you can see it from miles away.

LABROM: You've got a cracking view here of everywhere.

You can actually see right down to the cliff.

LABROM: Yeah.

BACKSHALL: Sure enough, it's not long before we hear of a sighting.

Oh, really?

Oh.

Fisherman off of Durness has seen a pod of orcas.

One massive male.

Oh.

BACKSHALL: We drop everything and head to where we expect to intercept them.

But the orca outsmart us.

There's been a post put up that the orcas were seen at a place called Sandwood Bay, which is the total opposite direction of where we are.

So, yeah, unfortunately, no luck today.

They've gone the other way.

(SIGHS) Over the coming days, Louis tries again and again, in the hopes of getting a glimpse of them.

(SQUEAKING) But the orca have been covering vast areas of water every day.

And always staying one step ahead of our cameras.

Louis is not giving up.

But I have to tear myself away and head 200 kilometres south to capture another wildlife spectacle.

The Moray Firth's bottlenose dolphins.

Yes!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Feasting on salmon.

Oh, yes.

Metres from shore, Tom.

Metres from shore.

You've always got a good chance of seeing dolphins at Chanonry.

If only the orca further north were this predictable.

LABROM: That's great.

BACKSHALL: But Louis has finally got some good news.

WOMAN: (ON PHONE) They're heading down towards Burwick just now.

BACKSHALL: A whale watcher has spotted some orca out at sea.

And Louis takes a leap of faith and hops onboard a passenger ferry in the hope he'll see them as they pass.

LABROM: We're getting on the ferry.

(LAUGHING) I'm not getting my hopes up, but also it would be incredible, incredible to see them.

BACKSHALL: And finally, out of nowhere, an unmistakable flash of black and white.

LABROM: Yeah, there they are.

Yeah, got 'em, got 'em.

Oh, yes!

BACKSHALL: This is the much-loved pod of orca known as the 27s.

And great news.

LABROM: There's a little one.

BACKSHALL: They have a calf.

-WOMAN: Yeah!

-(PEOPLE CHEERING) BACKSHALL: Now their pod is eight-members strong.

Whoo-hoo!

Whoo!

LABROM: These guys have put in so much hard work.

And they're all so passionate about it.

And some of them have been out for weeks and... And now they get to see it, and I'm here seeing it with them.

So, I'm not crying.

It's just the wind in my eyes.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING) BACKSHALL: With two incredible wildlife encounters filmed at the same time, I can't wait to catch up with the crew once they're back on shore.

LABROM: How are we?

BACKSHALL: Very, very happy.

LABROM: Mmm.

Good.

BACKSHALL: What an amazing job.

Well, orca on the British Isles, it was really wonderful to see.

It's our last day filming so last-day luck.

BACKSHALL: Revealing the challenges orca face was only possible because of the passionate people doing their best to help whales in any way they can.

And it's that passion we'll need to harness across nations and oceans if we're to ensure the future of whales in our seas.