The Cold Is My Teacher
We believe that when we are challenged we are changed.
And when faced with the force of the cold a powerful change rises from within. In our first documentary series, we explore how the cold connects people, brings joy, restores minds, repairs bodies, teaches, and challenges us like nothing else on earth.
Join us on a journey as we follow 12 individuals and groups of fascinating people up and down the UK whose love of cold water has brought them together and inspired the incredible stories we share in this series.
Pete Doherty
A name that still conjures the image of a sallow-skinned, rockstar drug addict staggering around London through hoards of paparazzi, one arm draped around a supermodel, the other holding a cigarette to his lips. We talk to the new Peter Doherty on how he discovered cold water, how it helped him with his addictions and how the cold is now his comfort blanket.
Linda Davies
From taking her personal experience of kidnap and turning it into a best selling novel to recovering from breast cancer, emerging more focussed and driven to spend her life doing the things that really matter. Linda is an author, a life coach, a mentor, a wife, a mother, an animal lover, a seasoned sea swimmer, a Brass Monkey owner and above all, a woman who understands how to live.
Paul Mort
Meet Paul Mort—a no-nonsense life transformation coach who’s faced darkness and emerged stronger. In this episode of The Cold Is My Teacher, Paul opens up about his journey through mental health struggles and how cold water immersion has played a vital role in rebuilding his mindset.
Sisters of swim
We speak to Mel, Sara, Laura, Lisa, Caroline and Nic about the group, how it started, why they love it, and what makes them get out of bed at 5:30am when the rain is hammering down on the window and it’s pitch black outside.
Steven Sulley
Steven Sulley deals in elite urban art. His Mayfair gallery buys and sells modern masterpieces, but the real artform in life is his wellbeing.
Mark Whittle
For Mark Whittle cold water immersion symbolises growth, and its role in his performance and mindset coaching business, Take FLIGHT, is psychological. He uses the cold to teach his clients how to push through discomfort - training the mind to choose the difficult path to access their potential and get closer to what they’re really capable of.
The Bluetits
“It’s much more difficult to do something that scares you when you’re alone. But when you have a community of people around you, it gets a little more comfortable for your brain to do whatever it is.” That’s how Sian Richardson, founder of The Bluetits, describes the wild swimming phenomenon she set up over 10 years ago.
The Dales Dipper
Les Peebles is a wild swimming guide and the proud founder of a 14,000-strong community called The Dales Dippers. But that wasn’t always the case. Les used to be a joiner and a painter. He wasn’t particularly depressed or stressed in life but he felt something was missing.
Queen of the Cold
We all need a Jules King in our lives. A woman whose glass isn’t just full, it overflows with positivity. Determined. Life-affirming. Inspirational. A woman who overcomes so much every day to achieve the most simple things we can sometimes take for granted.
The Ice Viking
Fenwick Ridley is a titan. A Team GB Ice swimmer. An entrepreneur. A master of his mind and a lover of the ice. As he describes it, his body is “built for the cold”.