Synopsis:

This film, narrated by John Hurt, is the closest that William Raban has come to making a 'conventional' documentary. "From London Bridge to the seaward limit is a distance of 50 miles. The Thames flows eastward through a temporary landscape of docks, wharves and warehouses. Travelling on the tide in a small boat, the camera scans the Kent and Essex shores. This modern scene is interwoven with paintings, photographs and archive film which reveals a time when the river was the artery to an empire and the busiest waterway in the world." (William Raban for LUXonline)