Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport season 8: ITV release date, how many episodes are there - what’s it about?

Season one of Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport came to ITV in 2015, taking viewers behind the scenes of the major airport.

The show is now entering its eight season and it has plenty more to show us, as travel chaos has been in the headlines for much of the year.

Heathrow is responsible for roughly 1,300 flights departing and arriving each day, and has an annual footfall of more than 80 million passengers.

This makes it the busiest airport in the country by quite a margin - Gatwick comes in second with roughly 45 million passengers per year. Humberside airport handles fewer than 50,000 passengers a year, considerably less than Heathrow sees each day.

Filmed over several months, Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport, goes behind the scenes to show viewers the amount of planning and manpower that goes into getting planes into the air.

The new season will feature new staff and passengers across the airport, from security, to the check in desks, and even the grass cutting teams.

What is Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport about?

The documentary series follows the busy lives of the staff at the Greater London airport as they deal with thousands of passengers each day.

The series also features irate passengers as they experience delays, cancellations, and lost luggage.

The synopsis for the first episode of season eight says: “Flying in tonight is a pilot needing help from the police with a very disgruntled passenger, fire engines give a bath to a Boeing triple 7 and new airline Rwandair deals with some very charming travellers.”

“Britain’s Busiest airport has more planes and more passengers, but with fewer staff, buckle up – it’s going to be bumpy.”

Season eight will also feature Heathrow’s response to Storm Eunice, as well as security breaches, luggage delays, acrobat planes, and even a proposal.

Season seven of the show explored how Heathrow responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. The new season will follow the airport staff as passenger numbers pick up again as staff shortages persist.

How many episodes are there?

Season eight will feature six hour-long episodes which will air weekly, with the final episode airing on 24 August.

Who is in the cast of Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport?

As the show is a documentary, the cast is made up of real-life airport staff including passenger service manager, Demi and passenger experience managers Harry, Taz, and Suki.

Other staff featured in the new season include Rachel from Airside Operations, secutiry manager Abida, Les from the Met police, John from plumbing and heating company Plumb Tomatoes, and service delivery manager, Janice.

Season seven of the show was narrated by Harry Potter actress Julie Walters, while previous seasons have been narrated by Joanna Lumley and Patricia Hodge.

It has not yet been revealed who will narrate the new season of the show.

When is Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport on TV?

Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport season 8 will premiere on ITV on Wednesday, 20 July at 9pm.

Later episodes will air weekly at the same time, and episodes will be available to watch on the ITV Hub shortly after they are first broadcast.

Previous seasons of the show are also available to watch now on the ITV Hub.