Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport

Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport is a British documentary series, aired by ITV from 2015 until 2022.

Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport
GenreDocumentary
Directed by
  • Juliette Murray-Topham
  • Ben Phethean
  • Jimmy Dallas
  • Jermaine Blake
  • Marc Knighton
  • Emma Findlay
  • David Waterman
  • Charles Crich
  • Dave Walley
  • Patrick Phillips
  • Miles Blayden-Ryall
  • Therese Byrne
Narrated by
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series8
No. of episodes53
Production
Executive producers
  • Juliette Murray-Topham
  • Tom Barry
  • Eve Kay
Producers
  • Juliette Murray-Topham
  • Jimmy Dallas
  • Therese Byrne
  • Ben Phethean
  • Charles Crich
  • Jermaine Blake
  • Nick Cohen
  • Dave Pearson
  • Marc Knighton
  • Emma Findlay
  • Dave Walley
  • Tom Pearson
  • Samantha Deville
  • Patrick Phillips
Production locationHeathrow Airport
Editors
  • Dave Pearson
  • Nick Cohen
  • Badger Cooper
  • Hamit Shonpal
  • Jonny Stacey
  • Bjorn Johnson
  • Dave Berezai
  • Jeremy Brettingham
  • Jonnie Case
Running time60 minutes (Series 1–3, 8)
30 minutes (Series 4–7)
Production companyRaw TV
Original release
NetworkITV
Release3 October 2015 (2015-10-03) –
24 August 2022 (2022-08-24)

In July 2023, it was confirmed by ITV that the show would not be returning for a ninth series.[1]

Format

edit

The series follows the events happening day after day at Heathrow Airport in London.

Episodes

edit

Series overview

edit
SeriesEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
133 October 2015 (2015-10-03)17 October 2015 (2015-10-17)
2330 May 2016 (2016-05-30)13 June 2016 (2016-06-13)
3310 May 2017 (2017-05-10)24 May 2017 (2017-05-24)
462 May 2018 (2018-05-02)13 June 2018 (2018-06-13)
51221 May 2019 (2019-05-21)16 October 2019 (2019-10-16)
61219 August 2020 (2020-08-19)4 November 2020 (2020-11-04)
71210 March 2021 (2021-03-10)27 October 2021 (2021-10-27)
8620 July 2022 (2022-07-20)24 August 2022 (2022-08-24)

Series 1 (2015)

edit
Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 ("Arrivals") 3 October 2015 TBA TBC Paul Thornley
2 ("Turnaround") 10 October 2015 TBC
3 ("Departures") 17 October 2015 TBC
SA 2015

Series 2 (2016)

edit

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.[2]

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 30 May 2016 3.33 13 Paul Thornley
2 6 June 2016 3.34 14
3 13 June 2016 2.89 15
SA 2016 3.18

Series 3 (2017)

edit

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.[3]

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 10 May 2017 4.48 16 Paul Thornley
2 17 May 2017 3.46 17
3 24 May 2017 3.25 17
SA 2017 3.73

Series 4 (2018)

edit

From series 4, episodes were cut down from 60 to 30 minutes to fit a new time slot.

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 2 May 2018 3.6 18 Patricia Hodge
2 9 May 2018 3.4 21
3 16 May 2018 4.1 23
4 23 May 2018 4.4
5 6 June 2018 4.5 126
6 13 June 2018 4.3
SA 2018 4.0

Series 5 (2019)

edit
Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 21 May 2019[4] NA NA Julie Walters
2 22 May 2019[5] NA NA
3 5 June 2019[6][7] NA NA
4 12 June 2019[8] 4.02 14
5 19 June 2019 4.07 15
6 26 June 2019 3.90 13
7 11 September 2019 NA NA
8 18 September 2019 NA NA
9 25 September 2019 TBA TBA
10 2 October 2019 TBA TBA
11 9 October 2019 TBA TBA
12 16 October 2019 TBA TBA
SA 2019 TBA TBA

Series 6 (2020)

edit

Series 6 was filmed before COVID-19 restrictions.

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 19 August 2020[9] TBA TBA Joanna Lumley
2 26 August 2020[10] TBA TBA
3 2 September 2020 TBA TBA
4 9 September 2020 TBA TBA
5 16 September 2020 TBA TBA
6 23 September 2020 TBA TBA
7 30 September 2020 TBA TBA
8 7 October 2020 TBA TBA
9 14 October 2020 TBA TBA
10 21 October 2020 TBA TBA
11 28 October 2020 TBA TBA
12 4 November 2020 TBA TBA
SA 2020 TBA TBA

Series 7 (2021)

edit

The first 3 episodes of this series were filmed in late 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and through England's second national lockdown. Episodes 4 and above were recorded during the relaxation of certain UK travel restrictions in mid 2021.

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV weekly rating Narrator
1 10 March 2021 TBA TBA Julie Walters
2 17 March 2021 TBA TBA
3 24 March 2021 TBA TBA
4 25 August 2021 TBA TBA
5 1 September 2021 TBA TBA
6 15 September 2021 TBA TBA
7 22 September 2021 TBA TBA
8 29 September 2021 TBA TBA
9 6 October 2021 TBA TBA
10 13 October 2021 TBA TBA
11 20 October 2021 TBA TBA
12 27 October 2021 TBA TBA

Series 8 (2022)

edit

Series 8 premiered on 20 July 2022.[11]

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
ITV
weekly rating
Narrator
1 20 July 2022 TBA TBA Sarah Parish
2 27 July 2022 TBA TBA
3 3 August 2022 TBA TBA
4 10 August 2022 TBA TBA
5 17 August 2022 TBA TBA
6 24 August 2022 TBA TBA Frances Barber

References

edit
  1. ^ "ITV scraps popular documentary series after eight years on air". Daily Mirror. 14 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  3. ^ "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  4. ^ Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport - Series 5 - Episode 1, retrieved 25 May 2019
  5. ^ Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport - Series 5 - Episode 2, retrieved 25 May 2019
  6. ^ "Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport | TV documentary | Heathrow Traveller". Heathrow Traveller blog. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport - S5 - Episode 3". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  8. ^ Abraham Cheung (6 June 2019), Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport S05E03 (Season 5, Episode 3, June 2019), retrieved 7 June 2019
  9. ^ Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport - Series 6 - Episode 1, retrieved 28 August 2020
  10. ^ Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport - Series 6 - Episode 2, retrieved 28 August 2020
  11. ^ "Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport". itv.com/presscentre. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
edit