Introduction
Robbie Cummings — or Robbie Cumming as he is officially known — has quietly become one of Britain’s most beloved television personalities. Best known as the man behind BBC’s Canal Boat Diaries, Robbie has built an entire lifestyle brand around life aboard his narrowboat, the Naughty Lass. He isn’t a celebrity in the traditional sense. There are no red carpets, no glamorous interviews, and no manufactured drama. Instead, he is a Dorset-born filmmaker, musician, and presenter who films his real life on the canals and turns it into something genuinely compelling.
As of 2025 and into 2026, Robbie is busier than ever. He is filming, podcasting, performing live shows, releasing music, and — most importantly — still living full-time on his narrowboat. Here is a detailed look at exactly what Robbie Cummings is doing now.
Who Is Robbie Cummings? A Quick Background
Before diving into his current activities, it helps to understand who Robbie is and how he got here. Born and raised in Dorset, he moved to London in his early thirties but struggled with the cost of city living. A friend offered him the chance to look after a narrowboat over winter. He never really left.
From that chance encounter with canal life, Robbie built a YouTube channel, attracted the attention of the BBC, and eventually starred in Canal Boat Diaries — a vlog-style documentary series that is notable for being one of the first of its kind to be filmed almost entirely on an iPhone. He edits the footage himself, composes the soundtrack himself, and lives the lifestyle himself. That authenticity is exactly what has made him so popular.
What Is Robbie Cummings Doing Now? Key Activities in 2025–2026
1. Canal Boat Diaries — Series 6 Is Here
The biggest news for fans is that Canal Boat Diaries has reached Series 6. The show airs on the Yesterday Channel and is available on demand via UKTV Play and BBC iPlayer. The show is now in its sixth series, a remarkable run for a programme that started as a simple vlog-style documentary about one man pottering around England’s waterways.
Series 5, which aired from June 2024, saw Robbie travel from Braunston in Northamptonshire down through Birmingham’s canal network and south along the Grand Union Canal. The new series sees him start in Northamptonshire and journey his way along the canal to Little Tring, sharing his passion for industrial heritage and celebrating the lesser-known stretches of challenging inner city canals.
Series 6 continues in the same spirit — real mishaps, beautiful scenery, pub reviews, and Robbie’s trademark dry humour holding it all together.
2. The Canal Boat Podcast — Behind the Scenes Every Fortnight
One of Robbie’s most exciting recent ventures is his podcast. He launched Robbie Cumming’s Canal Boat Podcast in 2024, where he takes listeners on a journey behind the scenes of his TV show, letting people further into his world on the waterways. New episodes drop every fortnight and the show is produced by Urban Podcasts.
In 2024 and 2025, the podcast goes behind the scenes of each episode — covering the challenges, funny bits that got cut, and what he was actually thinking when things went wrong. For fans of the TV show, it adds a rich extra layer. Think of it as a director’s commentary for a bloke living on a boat.
The podcast has received strong reviews and is available on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
3. Canal Boat Stories — Live Shows Across the UK
Beyond television and podcasting, Robbie takes his storytelling on the road. His live show, Canal Boat Stories, is an intimate evening of canal-themed escapism. He offers “an evening of canal themed escapism” for fans of canals, alternative living and storytelling, supported by photos, video, music and props.
Tickets are priced at around £20, making the shows genuinely accessible. Bookings are handled professionally through David Foster Management, suggesting Robbie’s live career has grown into a properly organised operation.
4. Music — Three Albums of Synth-Folk Instrumentals
Music has always been part of Robbie’s identity. Using only a semi-acoustic guitar and GarageBand for iOS, Robbie has self-published full albums of ‘synth-folk’ instrumentals which are available to stream and download via iTunes, Spotify and many more platforms.
He has released three albums in total. The music features heavily in the TV series, giving Canal Boat Diaries its distinctive, contemplative soundtrack. For many viewers, the music is as much a part of the experience as the visuals.
5. YouTube — 200+ Vlogs and Still Going
Robbie has filmed and edited over 200 YouTube vlogs, covering everything from canal journeys to his popular Pub of the Week segment, where he has reviewed over 100 pubs along the waterways. The YouTube channel remains active and is where many new fans first discover him.
Unlike many creators, Robbie has removed advertising from his YouTube videos — a deliberate choice that reflects his values around integrity and his broader commitment to keeping his content honest and uncluttered.
A Snapshot: Everything Robbie Cummings Is Currently Doing
| Activity | Platform / Format | Status (2025–2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Canal Boat Diaries Series 6 | BBC / Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play | Active — Streaming Now |
| Canal Boat Podcast | Apple Podcasts, Spotify | Active — Fortnightly Episodes |
| Canal Boat Stories Live Show | UK Venues | Active — Booking via David Foster Management |
| Music Albums (x3) | Spotify, iTunes | Available to Stream |
| YouTube Vlogs | YouTube | Active — 200+ Videos |
| @robbie_cumming | Active — 29K+ Followers |
How Does Robbie Cummings Make Money?
It is a question fans often ask, because his lifestyle seems almost too good to be sustainable. The answer is that Robbie’s income comes from several different streams rather than a single large salary.
YouTube earnings calculators suggest his channel makes modest ad revenue. The BBC pays him for Canal Boat Diaries. He has released three music albums available on Spotify and iTunes. The decent money probably comes from his live shows — Canal Boat Stories — where tickets are around £20 and bookings are organised through David Foster Management. There is also Patreon and occasional sponsorship deals.
It is not a fortune by any measure, but it is a living built entirely on his own terms — which, for Robbie, is precisely the point.
What Makes Robbie Cummings Different?
It is worth pausing to understand why Robbie Cummings has cultivated such a loyal following when there is no shortage of travel presenters on British television.
The answer comes down to three things: authenticity, self-sufficiency, and accessibility.
He films everything himself on an iPhone. He edits the footage himself. He composes the music himself. When something goes wrong on the boat — a broken propeller, a smashed window, getting frozen in the canal in Leighton Buzzard — he shows it. There is no production team smoothing over the awkward moments or polishing his personality for broadcast. What you see is what you get.
He’s natural on camera. Not performing. When things go wrong, he shows it. When he’s exhausted, you can tell. He just exists on screen rather than acting.
That combination of real skill and real personality is rare in television, and it has earned him a genuinely devoted audience.
Robbie’s Values: Eco-Conscious and Community-Driven
Something that does not always get enough attention is how deliberately Robbie has approached the commercial side of his career. He has designed his own range of eco-conscious merchandising, removed advertising from his YouTube videos and supports a number of UK charities.
His narrowboat lifestyle is itself a kind of statement about sustainable, slower living. Continuous cruisers — boaters who move every two weeks rather than staying in a fixed marina — occupy a genuinely different relationship with consumption and pace than most people in modern Britain. For many of his followers, watching Robbie is as much about aspiration as it is about entertainment.
Where Is Robbie Cummings Now, Physically?
Robbie continues to live full-time aboard the Naughty Lass. As a continuous cruiser, he moves locations regularly — exploring Yorkshire canals in summer, Midlands waterways through autumn and winter, and Wales routes in spring. His routes are not fixed, which is part of the appeal. Each series takes him somewhere new along the 2,000-mile network of canals and rivers that crisscross England and Wales.
His Instagram bio confirms he is still actively boating, making music and video, with Canal Boat Diaries streaming on U and BBC iPlayer alongside his Canal Boat Podcast and Canal Boat Stories live show.
Quick Facts About Robbie Cummings
- Real Name: Robbie Cumming
- Hometown: Dorset, England
- Narrowboat: The Naughty Lass
- TV Show: Canal Boat Diaries (6 Series)
- Broadcaster: BBC Four / Yesterday Channel / UKTV Play
- Podcast: Robbie Cumming’s Canal Boat Podcast (Fortnightly)
- Music: 3 Self-Produced Albums (Synth-Folk)
- YouTube: 200+ Vlogs Including Pub of the Week
- Live Shows: Canal Boat Stories — Nationwide UK Venues
- Booking: David Foster Management
Final Thoughts
So, what is Robbie Cummings doing now? In short — everything. He is filming Series 6 of Canal Boat Diaries, releasing fortnightly podcast episodes, touring the UK with his live show, composing music, and still living exactly the life he chose over a decade ago aboard the Naughty Lass.
What makes his story genuinely inspiring is not the television fame or the podcast numbers. It is the fact that he built an entire creative career out of doing something he loved, using tools almost anyone has access to, and refusing to compromise the authenticity that made people care about him in the first place. In an era of highly produced, algorithm-chasing content, Robbie Cummings is a reminder that slow, honest storytelling still finds its audience — even if you’re telling it from inside a 40-year-old narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal.
