A DOCUMENTARY shining a light on the lives of those on board a Barrow built submarine will broadcast in a TV first.

‘On Board Britain’s Nuclear Submarine: Trident' focuses on the operations and characters within Vanguard Class submarine HMS Vengeance.

Airing on Wednesday at 9pm, the show was filmed at the navy’s Scottish headquarters at Faslane,

HMS Vengeance, built at BAE systems, marked an end of an era, as it was the last of Barrow’s giant Trident subs to be handed to Royal Navy.

The Mail:

The submarine was handed to the navy in November of 1999, in which it was commissioned at Devonshire Dock as members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament staged a peaceful protest on Michaelson Road Bridge.

The service was attended by Nato Secretary General and former Defence Minister Lord Robertson.

His wife, Lady Sandra Robertson, performed the handing over ceremony and inspected the guard.

The Channel 5 documentary is a British first, marking the first time that camera crews have been granted access to a UK nuclear missile submarine at sea.

The Mail:

HMS Vengeance is one of four submarines that carries Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent.

The submarine is home to a crew of 160, who spend months at sea working in complete secrecy.

Viewers can follow the crew members as they prepare for their deployment on Operation Relentless - and as the name suggests, it is the longest enduring military operation ever conducted by the UK Armed Forces.

No area of the vessel is off limits to Channel 5 presenter Rob Bell who spent five days and nights on board, exploring the clandestine world of national security and nuclear weaponry.

In the documentary, Rob explores the sonar room, the torpedo bay, the control room and is shown the nuclear missile tubes loaded with deadly warheads.

The Mail:

In the documentary which has been previewed by The Mail, Rob, who was driving towards the Scottish site where the submarine is homed said: “I have been vetted to the highest level, and I’ve had to sign the official secrets act because behind this fence is Britain’s most secret and most powerful weapon of war.”

To ensure security levels were maintained at all times, highly-sensitive areas of the vessel were off-limits to the film crew and they were escorted throughout the filming onboard.

Rear Admiral John Rear welcomed Rob to the site.

He said: “If you’ve got that level of sophistication, technology and power in one place you’ve really got to protect it and protect the knowledge that goes with it.”