I do remember a feasibility study years ago (not UK) for a nuclear powered RPV airship for continuous high altitude maritime surveillance .

For a good insight into the early days of airships try:

My Airship Flights 1915-1930 by George Meager

A good level of technical detail, flying even the simple ones was a lot more complex than I had realised. There are some hair raising tales from the WW1 period.

YS

In the nineties, there was a brief interest in resurrecting transport operation of modern airships, and in the vast new polders in The Netherlands, a factory and landing or mooring field (600 m in circumference) was planned. Design had started, and I was intrigued by one of the problems the designers encountered in the certification: micro climatic effects on the long (300m +) length of such airships. Especially the effect of icing or even rain on one end of the ship needed to be countered relative to the clean other side of the ship. Ice can be very heavy on such a scale. I believe there was even a joint effort (Anglo-Dutch) to propose certification rules for transport airships.

I think they (airships) may have been looked at for recce roles in Norn Iron at one time.

I have heard that someone intends to run a service from Liverpool to Belfast. Is there any truth in this ???

Teeters
Airships were one option for persistent surveillance in N.I., considered in the mid 70's at least.

Alan Bond? had an airship in Oz in the 80s? Saw it over Brisbane on scenic flights, looked fantastic.
later visited it when moored near Cairns. No ops that day due strong SE trade winds. Expensive too, for a jolly seat.

Would have been a great solution for Barrier Reef surveillance. Drift silently along on the wind and the Taiwanese, Japanese, Chinese Indo illegal fishers, no noise, no reason to look up.
Once they heard an aircraft, they just bolt for the 12 mile limit. Bit different these days with 200 kms Economic zone, but those after easy $s don’t give a stuff about that in remote areas.

One moored over the Torres Straits with radar would have given the smugglers to/ from PNG a run for their money.