# Drain the Oceans

Drain the Oceans is an Australian and British documentary television series that premiered on 28 May 2018 on National Geographic. The 25-part factual series is hosted by Russell Boulter, and explores shipwrecks, treasure and sunken cities using underwater scanning system, scientific data, and art digital recreations. Andrew Ogilvie from Electric Pictures and Crispin Sadler from Mallinson Sadler Productions produced the series for National Geographic. Drain The Oceans was preceded by similar National Geographic productions: Drain the Great Lakes, Drain the Titanic and Drain the Bermuda Triangle. The series is available in the form of a 10-part season and a 15-part season on iTunes. Season 4 began airing on National Geographic as of 2 August 2021.

## Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released | Network |
| 1 | 15 | 15 | 28 May 2018 (2018-05-28) | 5 November 2018 (2018-11-05) | National Geographic |
| 2 | 18 | 18 | 3 June 2019 (2019-06-03) | 14 October 2019 (2019-10-14) | National Geographic |
| 3 | 10 | 10 | 9 February 2020 (2020-02-09) | 23 June 2020 (2020-06-23) | National Geographic |
| 4 | 8 | 8 | 2 August 2021 (2021-08-02) | 23 August 2021 (2021-08-23) | National Geographic |
| 5 | 6 | 6 | 29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) | 3 January 2023 (2023-01-03) | National Geographic |
| Specials | 4 | 4 | 30 July 2018 (2018-07-30) | 16 August 2021 (2021-08-16) | National Geographic |

## Background and production
### Visual effects

Last Pixel has provided over 70 minutes of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and other visual effects for 5 episodes of season 2.

## Episodes
### Season 1 (2018)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 1 | 1 | "Villains of the Underworld" | Wayne Abbott & Sophie Elwin-Harris | Christopher Blow & Sophie Elwin-Harris | 28 May 2018 (2018-05-28) | 0.63 |
| 2 | 2 | "Nazi Secrets" | Marc Tiley | Marc Tiley | 28 May 2018 (2018-05-28) | 0.63 |
| 3 | 3 | "Gulf of Mexico" | Anthony Barwell | Anthony Barwell | 4 June 2018 (2018-06-04) | 0.76 |
| 4 | 4 | "Lost Worlds of the Mediterranean" | Michael Davies & Sophie Elwin-Harris | TBA | 11 June 2018 (2018-06-11) | 0.77 |
| 5 | 5 | "Sunken Treasures" | Marc Tiley | Marc Tiley | 18 June 2018 (2018-06-18) | 0.79 |
| 6 | 6 | "Legends of Atlantis" | Peter Rees, Alex Barry, and Anthony Barwell | TBA | 25 June 2018 (2018-06-25) | 0.67 |
| 7 | 7 | "Deadly Pacific" | John Hyde | John Hyde, Alex Barry, and Chris Thorburn | 2 July 2018 (2018-07-02) | 0.77 |
| 8 | 8 | "Egypt's Lost Wonders" | Sophie Elwin-Harris | Sophie Elwin-Harris | 9 July 2018 (2018-07-09) | 0.66 |
| 9 | 9 | "Mysteries of the China Seas" | Chris Thorburn | Chris Thorburn | 16 July 2018 (2018-07-16) | 0.63 |
| 10 | 10 | "Ultimate Battleships" | Alex West | Alex West | 23 July 2018 (2018-07-23) | 0.62 |
| 11 | 11 | "Malaysia Airlines 370" | Peter Rees | Peter Rees | 30 July 2018 (2018-07-30) | 0.74 |
| 12 | 12 | "Sunken Cities" | TBA | TBA | 15 October 2018 (2018-10-15) | 0.46 |
| 13 | 13 | "Treasures of the Deep" | TBA | TBA | 22 October 2018 (2018-10-22) | 0.38 |
| 14 | 14 | "Sunken War Ships" | TBA | TBA | 29 October 2018 (2018-10-29) | 0.39 |
| 15 | 15 | "Stormy Seas" | TBA | TBA | 5 November 2018 (2018-11-05) | 0.45 |

### Season 2 (2019)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 16 | 1 | "Secrets of D-Day" | Dominic Ozanne | Dominic Ozanne | 3 June 2019 (2019-06-03) | 0.80 |
| 17 | 2 | "Secrets of New York City" | James Mair | James Mair | 10 June 2019 (2019-06-10) | 0.69 |
| 18 | 3 | "Killer U-Boats" | Alex West | Alex West | 17 June 2019 (2019-06-17) | 0.65 |
| 19 | 4 | "Buried Secrets of the Gold Rush" | Charlie Smith | Charlie Smith | 1 July 2019 (2019-07-01) | 0.45 |
| 20 | 5 | "Secrets of the Civil War" | Marc Tiley | Marc Tiley | 22 July 2019 (2019-07-22) | 0.51 |
| 21 | 6 | "Lost Nukes of the Cold War" | Sam Taplin | Sam Taplin | 29 July 2019 (2019-07-29) | 0.55 |
| 22 | 7 | "Secrets of the Spanish Armada" | Richard Max | TBA | 5 August 2019 (2019-08-05) | 0.52 |
| 23 | 8 | "Pacific War Megawrecks" | Malcolm Clark & George Pagliero | TBA | 12 August 2019 (2019-08-12) | 0.62 |
| 24 | 9 | "Sunken Weapons of War" | TBA | TBA | 12 August 2019 (2019-08-12) | 0.47 |
| 25 | 10 | "America's Lost Treasures" | TBA | TBA | 19 August 2019 (2019-08-19) | 0.51 |
| 26 | 11 | "Disasters at Sea" | TBA | TBA | 19 August 2019 (2019-08-19) | 0.46 |
| 27 | 12 | "Thai Cave Rescue" | Sophie Elwin-Harris | Sophie Elwin-Harris | 2 September 2019 (2019-09-02) | 0.46 |
| 28 | 13 | "London's Secret History" | Sam Miller | Sam Miller | 9 September 2019 (2019-09-09) | 0.34 |
| 29 | 14 | "Secrets of Loch Ness" | Charlie Bingham & Malcolm Clark | Charlie Bingham & Malcolm Clark | 16 September 2019 (2019-09-16) | 0.46 |
| 30 | 15 | "Hitler's Killer Warships" | Alex Hearle | Alex Hearle | 23 September 2019 (2019-09-23) | 0.35 |
| 31 | 16 | "Lost Giants" | Marc Tiley | Marc Tiley | 30 September 2019 (2019-09-30) | 0.49 |
| 32 | 17 | "Pacific Shockwave" | Elliot Kew | Elliot Kew | 7 October 2019 (2019-10-07) | 0.36 |
| 33 | 18 | "Rise of the Roman Empire" | Savas Georgalis | TBA | 14 October 2019 (2019-10-14) | 0.45 |

### Season 3 (2020)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 34 | 1 | "America's Last Slave Ship" | Vicky Matthews | TBA | 9 February 2020 (2020-02-09) | 0.46 |
| 35 | 2 | "The Atomic Ghost Fleet" | Ludo Graham | Ludo Graham | 5 May 2020 (2020-05-05) | 0.46 |
| 36 | 3 | "The Viking Seas" | Dan Clifton | Dan Clifton | 5 May 2020 (2020-05-05) | 0.44 |
| 37 | 4 | "Egypt's Sunken City" | Olive King | Olive King | 12 May 2020 (2020-05-12) | 0.31 |
| 38 | 5 | "The Battle of Britain" | Daniel Edwards | Daniel Edwards | 19 May 2020 (2020-05-19) | 0.35 |
| 39 | 6 | "Pirate Ships of the Caribbean" | Paul Copeland | Paul Copeland | 26 May 2020 (2020-05-26) | 0.34 |
| 40 | 7 | "The American Revolution" | Sam Taplin | Sam Taplin | 2 June 2020 (2020-06-02) | 0.39 |
| 41 | 8 | "Raiders of the Civil War" | Tomasz Cebula | Tomasz Cebula | 9 June 2020 (2020-06-09) | 0.55 |
| 42 | 9 | "The Last Wrecks of WWII" | Wayne Derrick | TBA | 16 June 2020 (2020-06-16) | 0.41 |
| 43 | 10 | "Chicago" | Rupert Edwards | TBA | 23 June 2020 (2020-06-23) | 0.47 |

### Season 4 (2021)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 44 | 1 | "The Wild West" | Wayne Derrick | TBA | 2 August 2021 (2021-08-02) | 0.40 |
| 45 | 2 | "The Battle for the Black Swan" | Christopher Riley | Christopher Riley | 2 August 2021 (2021-08-02) | 0.37 |
| 46 | 3 | "Hollywood" | Adam Warner | TBA | 9 August 2021 (2021-08-09) | 0.39 |
| 47 | 4 | "The First Americans" | Chris Thorburn | TBA | 9 August 2021 (2021-08-09) | 0.40 |
| 48 | 5 | "Venice's Lost Empire" | Malcolm Clark and Yavar Abbas | TBA | 9 August 2021 (2021-08-09) | 0.43 |
| 49 | 6 | "Hurricane Apocalypse" | Tomasz Cebula | TBA | 16 August 2021 (2021-08-16) | 0.51 |
| 50 | 7 | "The Great Barrier Reef" | Anna Jeffries & Alex West | Bruce Kennedy | 23 August 2021 (2021-08-23) | 0.41 |
| 51 | 8 | "Sea of Secrets" | Catrin Evans | Bruce Kennedy | 23 August 2021 (2021-08-23) | N/A |

### Season 5 (2022–23)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 52 | 1 | "The Secrets of Pompeii's Dead" | Vicky Matthews | TBA | 29 November 2022 (2022-11-29) | 0.28 |
| 53 | 2 | "Pearl Harbor" | Wayne Derrick | TBA | 6 December 2022 (2022-12-06) | N/A |
| 54 | 3 | "The Amber Room" | Laura Mulholland | TBA | 13 December 2022 (2022-12-13) | 0.26 |
| 55 | 4 | "Ancient Maya Resurrection" | Dina Mufti | TBA | 20 December 2022 (2022-12-20) | 0.26 |
| 56 | 5 | "The Alamo" | Tomasz Cebula | TBA | 27 December 2022 (2022-12-27) | 0.25 |
| 57 | 6 | "Narcos" | Christopher Riley | TBA | 3 January 2023 (2023-01-03) | 0.31 |

### Season 6 (2023)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 58 | 1 | "Alaska" | TBA | TBA | 5 March 2023 (2023-03-05) | N/A |
| Draining Alaska's extreme north reveals the graveyard of a tragic fleet. |||||||
| 59 | 2 | "Rise of the Mob" | Katie Mathews | Katie Mathews | 12 March 2023 (2023-03-12) | N/A |
| Lost wrecks reveal how the Mob gained power and wealth in 1920s America. |||||||
| 60 | 3 | "Secrets of the Dinosaurs" | TBA | TBA | 19 March 2023 (2023-03-19) | N/A |
| From Patagonia to Canada paleontologists uncover the Real Jurassic Americas. |||||||
| 61 | 4 | "The Myth of the Pacific Pirate" | TBA | TBA | 26 March 2023 (2023-03-26) | N/A |
| Archaeologists uncover the truth behind the legend of a treasure ship. |||||||
| 62 | 5 | "Invasion USA" | Steve O'Hagan | Steve O'Hagan | 2 April 2023 (2023-04-02) | N/A |
| A U.S. flagship wreck reveals the British burning of the White House in 1814. |||||||
| 63 | 6 | "$20 Million Time Bomb" | Christopher Riley | Christopher Riley | 9 April 2023 (2023-04-09) | N/A |
| A bomb, murder, and a foiled multi-million insurance scam on the high seas |||||||

## Specials

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| SP1 | Special–1 | "Ghost Ships of the Atlantic" | Jobim Sampson & Mike Slee | Jobim Sampson, Christopher Blow, and Max Salomon | 30 July 2018 (2018-07-30) | 0.74 |
| SP2 | Special–2 | "Top Secret Wrecks" | TBA | TBA | 6 January 2020 (2020-01-06) | 0.48 |
| SP3 | Special–3 | "Arctic War" | Steven Clarke | TBA | 2 August 2021 (2021-08-02) | N/A |
| SP4 | Special–4 | "The Mississippi River" | TBA | TBA | 16 August 2021 (2021-08-16) | 0.54 |

## Accolades

| Association | Year | Category | Nominee(s) / Work | Result |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2019 | Bronze World Medal – Documentary (History & Society) | Sophie Elwin-Harris, Imogen Walford, Dave Corfield, Crispin Sadler, Phil Craig, Mark Fielder, Andrew Ogilvie, Mark Robertson (for "Egypt's Lost Wonders") | Won |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2020 | Silver – Documentary (History & Society) | Sophie Elwin-Harris, Dave Corfield, Mike Denny, Crispin Sadler, Phil Craig, Tom Adams (for "Thai Cave Rescue") | Won |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2021 | Finalist – Documentary (History & Society) | Crispin Sadler, Phil Craig, Vicky Matthews, Simon Pearce, Dave Corfield (for "America's Last Slave Ship") | Finalist |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2021 | Silver – Documentary (Science & Technology) | Crispin Sadler, Phil Craig, Ludo Graham, Dave Corfield, Jonnie Morris (for "The Atomic Ghost Fleet") | Won |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2022 | GOLD – Documentary (History & Society) | Crispin Sadler, Phil Craig, Nigel Walk, Christopher Riley, Steve Perring, Dave Corfield, Benjamin Stott (for "The Battle for the Black Swan") | Won |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2022 | GOLD – Documentary (Science & Technology) | Crispin Sadler, Phil Craig, Johanna Woolford Gibbon, Chris Thorburn, Dave Corfield, Simon Pearce, Chris Mallett (for "The First Americans") | Won |
| New York Festivals TV & Film Awards | 2024 | GOLD – Documentary (History & Society) | Crispin Sadler, Nigel Walk, Christopher Riley, Alex Hanks, Vanessa Heron, Dave Corfield, Oliver Baker (for "$20 Million Time Bomb") | Won |
| Videographer Awards | 2019 | Award of Excellence – Cinematography | Mark Molesworth | Won |
| Videographer Awards | 2020 | Award of Excellence – Cinematography | Mark Molesworth (for "Secrets of New York City") | Won |