HMS Ark Royal: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Filmed on board the Royal Navy's flagship over four months in 2010, the series followed the aircraft carrier's operations during what would turn out to be her last international deployment. With a 1000-strong crew, she was the United Kingdom's largest aircraft carrier and had been in service for 25 years. But in October 2010, shortly after the deployment ended, it was announced that she would be be decommissioned in early 2011, five years earlier than planned, along with the Harrier jets that flew from her deck. It was an eventful deployment that began in the Atlantic. But she was soon diverted to help pick up Britons stranded by the closure of the skies over Europe due to the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. After returning briefly to the UK for repairs, she headed back across the Atlantic to Norfolk, Virginia to resume her planned mission.

Series details

• Title: HMS Ark Royal
• Format: Documentary
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 2011-02-22
• Final broadcast date listed: 2011-04-12
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: Discovery
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 43237
• IMDb ID: tt3625056
• TVDB ID: 252103

Cast and credited roles

• Richard Armitage — Narrator

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 2011-02-22; final listed air date 2011-04-12; episode order: 8.

Source and licence

Adapted from HMS Ark Royal on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.