The first episode of Surprising Europe looks at the risky business of actually getting into Europe - the dangerous illegal boat trips, border controls where stowaways can be detected with heart-beat detecting equipment and a bleak detention centre where captured illegal migrants spend months waiting for asylum - or a return trip home.

Ssuuna, a journalist from Uganda and a regular report on Surprising Europe, gives a first hand account of the experiences of an undocumented migrant's early days in Europe. He prepares himself for his journey to Amsterdam as a migrant and enters Europe on a tourist visa. We follow him while he goes house hunting.

Dayo from Nigeria arrived in Malta after a dangerous boat trip. He has been living and working in a detention centre for seven months, waiting for his residence permit. The borders in Europe might be open, but the border between France and England is not. In Calais, France, the border control uses high-tech devices and sniffer dogs to detect stowaways in trucks.

And the Cameroon rap and hip hop artist Scorpio gives his vision of life in Europe as an African migrant in his track Be informed before you come.

Taking the Leap can be seen from Monday, August 8, at the following times GMT: Monday: 2230; Tuesday: 0930; Wednesday: 0330; Thursday: 1630. Click here for more on Surprising Europe.