The Wrecking Season

After seeing this film, stepping onto a beach may never be the same again. Until his untimely death, playwright, beachcomber and lobsterman Nick Darke lived on Cornwall's rugged and beautiful north coast. He came from a long line of seafarers and he still practised the right of 'wrecking', an ancient pastime that intriguingly put him in touch, through phone calls and the internet, with fishermen and oceanographers round the world.

This haunting film, photographed by Nick's artist wife Jane, which uses atmospheric and evocative archive shot by his father, captures a unique portrait of his daily work as he combed the wild seashore for the wonderful hardwoods, exotic sea beans, fishing paraphernalia and fascinating artefacts deposited on Cornwall's beaches by the ocean's long haul drift.

It's an uplifting tribute to a remarkable man whose house, garden and whole existence are full of the wonderful things he found and whose data and observations feed into important global ocean research and investigations.