TV presenter, writer and adventurer Ben Fogle immersed himself in the RNLI’s past and present during his latest on-screen project …

It’s a crisp, cold January morning off the south Devon coast, and the Torbay all-weather lifeboat is powering towards a figure waving in the sea. As the 17m vessel pulls alongside, her crew members grab the grateful man’s lifejacket straps and haul him aboard. Ben Fogle has just had a taste of what it’s like to be rescued by the RNLI.

It’s by no means Ben’s first brush with the charity. In 2005, he was halfway through a 2,500-mile row across the Atlantic with Olympic Medallist James Cracknell when they capsized. ‘Fortunately, before we’d set off we’d both done sea survival training with the RNLI,’ recalls Ben. ‘That training meant we both kept our heads and recovered the situation when a mistake could have proved fatal.’

Ben’s Atlantic mission was just one of his many televised exploits, which began with Castaway, the BBC’s Millennium project that saw him marooned on a Hebridean island with other volunteers. Since then TV audiences have watched him meet wild animals in Africa, complete a race on foot to the South Pole, and conquer mountains, jungles and deserts as part of the BBC’s Extreme Dreams. While filming that show’s second series in Peru, he caught a rare flesh-eating virus. It took a course of chemotherapy to fully recover from the disease.

Today, though, it’s the chilly English Channel that is Ben’s main concern. He’s filming a man overboard exercise as part of a project that has kept him much closer to home: a documentary about the RNLI for The History Channel. And, although it’s not been as physically demanding as some of his challenges, he’s found himself in deep water a few times – and he’s more passionate about the RNLI than ever. ‘Through this documentary I’ve realised what an extraordinary story the charity has, from its foundation in 1824 right up to now,’ says Ben. The documentary’s shooting schedule has also involved inshore lifeboat capsize training in the Lifeboat College survival pool, going to sea in an historic rowing lifeboat and visiting the RNLI Memorial that remembers 778 people lost while saving others at sea.

‘Growing up, I supported the RNLI more and more as I began to understand the sea,’ says Ben, who canoed and sailed from childhood and volunteered for the Royal Naval Reserve while studying at the University of Portsmouth. ‘Whatever kind of sea user you are, the sea is master. You can’t predict what it’s going to do – and that’s why the lifeboat crews are crucial. That’s why I’ve tried to support them as much as possible.’ That support has included running the London Marathon and taking part in an Isle of Wight sea kayaking race, both in aid of the RNLI. ‘Raising funds and awareness for my favourite charities is a privilege of my job – and part of my social responsibility,’ Ben adds.

It’s remarkable that Ben has fitted so much into the past 10 years – in addition to his extreme challenges and varied TV work, he has written a string of press columns and published four books. Three of those have focused on the sea, including Offshore: In Search of an Island of my Own. It followed Ben on a journey to the British Isles’ most unusual and remote islands. The trip included an attempt to ‘invade’ Rockall, a tiny islet in the North Atlantic with disputed ownership, and he visited the Principality of Sealand, a Second World War fort off the coast of Suffolk that has been declared a sovereign state by its owners. He was obviously popular there – he returned recently to accept a title.

‘What struck me,’ says the new Lord of Sealand, ‘is that, even though coastal communities are so different from one another, the RNLI is always important to them. And this documentary has helped me realise what sacrifices the volunteers have made and still make. Being a lifeboat crew member like the Torbay volunteers is a lifestyle, not a hobby. It’s a whole other world that runs in tandem with your work and family life. And I’m actually quite envious of that – the camaraderie, and the opportunity, through the training and equipment, to save someone’s life.’

So, what’s next for Ben? ‘I honestly don’t know what I’ll be doing next month,’ he says, holding up his hands. ‘That’s part of my job. It’s difficult to plan and there’s no routine. But I find that exciting. I would love to do more about the sea and the people associated with it. I’m never happier in my career than when I’m working on the sea – the ocean is my oxygen.’ Perhaps it’s appropriate, then, that Ben woke up on the morning after his 35th birthday and discovered he’d acquired a permanent symbol that will always point him towards the waves. ‘I got a little bit drunk and ended up getting a tattoo of what I thought was a compass,’ he smiles. ‘But it turned out to be a nautical star. I rather like it. It brings me closer to the seafaring community!’

Lifeboat Heroes, a History of the RNLI is due to be broadcast on The History Channel (Sky 529/Virgin 234) on 26 April.