Motorcycle racing star, mechanic and engineering enthusiast Guy Martin – described as a cross between Steve McQueen and Fred Dibnah – enlists his best mate Mark “Mave” Davies to help him renovate a narrowboat, Reckless, using the best of British inventions from the Industrial Revolution.

Guy and Mave set about building their own versions of the innovations that made Britain great; from a blast furnace to allow them to smelt iron and make a kettle, to a steam engine to power his shower. And, as Reckless journeys along the canal ways, Guy tries his hand at a host of British crafts and inventions; including weaving silk using an early computer, blowing up the first gas-powered water heater, abseiling off the side of Derby Cathedral to clean its clock and conducting a “flush-off” at historic lavatory manufacturer Thomas Crapper & Sons.