A fast living, cynical London music executive, Danny, reluctantly heads to Cornwall on his colleague Henry's stag weekend, where he's pranked by his boss, Troy, into trying to sign a group of shanty-singing fishermen. Danny becomes the ultimate ‘fish out of water’ struggling to gain the respect and enthusiasm of the unlikely boy band that consists of Jim, Jago, Leadville and Rowan, who all value friendship and community over fame and fortune. Attempting to overcome the fishermen's scepticism about the music business, Danny finds himself drawn into the community, has his integrity tested and ultimately is shown the meaning of loyalty, love and friendship. This forces Danny to re-evaluate what really matters in life; ultimately giving him the chance of a different kind of success which leads to him falling in love with Jim's daughter, Alwyn.
The film stars Daniel Mays (The Limehouse Golem, Swimming with Men), James Purefoy (Rome, Netflix’s Altered Carbon), Tuppence Middleton (War & Peace, The Imitation Game), David Hayman (Finding Your Feet, Viceroy's House), Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake, Walk Like A Panther ) and Noel Clarke (Brotherhood, Star Trek: Into Darkness). Fishermen's Friends was shot on location in Cornwall and comes from director Chris Foggin (Kids In Love) with a screenplay by Nick Moorcroft and Meg Leonard (Finding Your Feet) and Piers Ashworth (St Trinians) The film reached Number 2 in the UK box office on the week of its release.
The album from the movie based on the true story of the West Country musical phenomenon The Fisherman Friends . The band of fishermen, shopkeepers, potters, and builders, that got to together 30 years ago to raise money for local charities by performing sea shanties on the beach in Port Isaac, managed to conquer the top 10 in 2010. They also performed on Glastonbury’s legendary Pyramid Stage, at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall and subsequently have toured all over the UK. The film of their meteoric rise features 17 songs recorded in their local church in St Kew. Some new, some borrowed and some slightly blue. While only making cameo appearances in the film the bands unique songs and voices weave their way though the heartfelt, poignant and at times hilarious narrative, providing the bedrock for what has already been hailed as one of the film highlights of 2019.