diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index f4c8d0b7f4..47f3e740fa 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -55,3 +55,8 @@ linkcheck:
 		echo "Running linkcheck in $$i..."; \
 		(cd $$i; $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) $(MYMAKEFLAGS) linkcheck); done
 
+show:
+	@for i in $(SUBDIRS); do \
+		echo "Running show in $$i..."; \
+		(cd $$i; $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) $(MYMAKEFLAGS) show); done
+
diff --git a/docs/src/Makefile b/docs/src/Makefile
index c693a2c900..37c2e9e3e6 100644
--- a/docs/src/Makefile
+++ b/docs/src/Makefile
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ PAPEROPT_a4     = -D latex_paper_size=a4
 PAPEROPT_letter = -D latex_paper_size=letter
 ALLSPHINXOPTS   = -d $(BUILDDIR)/doctrees $(PAPEROPT_$(PAPER)) $(SPHINXOPTS) .
 
-.PHONY: help clean html html-noplot dirhtml singlehtml pickle json htmlhelp qthelp devhelp epub latex latexpdf text man changes linkcheck doctest
+.PHONY: help clean html html-noplot dirhtml singlehtml pickle json htmlhelp qthelp devhelp epub latex latexpdf text man changes linkcheck doctest show
 
 help:
 	@echo "Please use \`make <target>' where <target> is one of"
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ help:
 	@echo "  changes    to make an overview of all changed/added/deprecated items"
 	@echo "  linkcheck  to check all external links for integrity"
 	@echo "  doctest    to run all doctests embedded in the documentation (if enabled)"
+	@echo "  show       to open the built documentation in the default browser"
 
 clean:
 	-rm -rf $(BUILDDIR)
@@ -153,3 +154,6 @@ doctest:
 	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b doctest $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/doctest
 	@echo "Testing of doctests in the sources finished, look at the " \
 	      "results in $(BUILDDIR)/doctest/output.txt."
+
+show:
+	@python -c "import webbrowser; webbrowser.open_new_tab('file://$(shell pwd)/$(BUILDDIR)/html/index.html')"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docs/src/developers_guide/contributing_documentation_full.rst b/docs/src/developers_guide/contributing_documentation_full.rst
index ac62a67373..41314e80ac 100755
--- a/docs/src/developers_guide/contributing_documentation_full.rst
+++ b/docs/src/developers_guide/contributing_documentation_full.rst
@@ -61,7 +61,10 @@ If you wish to run a full clean build you can run::
     make clean
     make html
 
-This is useful for a final test before committing your changes.
+This is useful for a final test before committing your changes. Having built
+the documentation, you can view them in your default browser via::
+
+    make show
 
 .. note:: In order to preserve a clean build for the html, all **warnings**
           have been promoted to be **errors** to ensure they are addressed.
diff --git a/docs/src/whatsnew/latest.rst b/docs/src/whatsnew/latest.rst
index a7d66382cb..63ee108335 100644
--- a/docs/src/whatsnew/latest.rst
+++ b/docs/src/whatsnew/latest.rst
@@ -131,6 +131,10 @@ This document explains the changes made to Iris for this release
 #. `@rcomer`_ removed a now redundant workaround for an old matplotlib bug,
    highlighted by :issue:`4090`.  (:pull:`4999`)
 
+#. `@rcomer`_ added the ``show`` option to the documentation Makefiles, as a
+   convenient way for contributors to view their built documentation.
+   (:pull:`5000`)
+
 .. comment
     Whatsnew author names (@github name) in alphabetical order. Note that,
     core dev names are automatically included by the common_links.inc: