Cornwall’s Wildest Wave

  • BBC
  • 2022
  • 30 minutes

Cornwall’s Wildest Wave

  • BBC
  • 2022
  • 30 minutes

 

33 year-old Tom Butler is a big wave surfer. For the last ten years he’s ridden some of the largest waves in the world, but he’s been ignoring what’s in his backyard off Cornwall’s wild north coast.

With legends of monster waves, Tom spends the winter searching for them. A deadly reef two miles from St Ives, known as the Stones, could deliver him ‘the ultimate Cornish monster wave’. The challenge is, he needs wind and weather conditions to perfectly align.

Tom spends the winter waiting. And as storm after storm batters the Cornish coast, his hopes of finding a monster wave look more and more bleak.

Then finally, in February, his chance comes.  Tom heads back out to the Stones with a large safety team of paramedic, safety boat and back up jet skis. When they arrive it looks like the mission will fail. But as the tide turns something magical happens.  An extraordinary wave forms and for just half an hour, there is an incredible Cornish ‘monster’ some 6m high.

CORNWALL’S WILDEST WAVE is a beautiful celebration of Cornwall, a winter of wild weather and extraordinary waves. But above all, it’s an intimate character profile of Tom Butler,  his love of the ocean,  his soulfulness and an insight into what it means to be surfer.

The ocean makes me feel really alive and in the moment. When you are in the waves you just forget about everything else that’s going on in your life and that’s really special for me. The focus it brings.

Tom Butler

  • Director & Photography:
    MICHAEL CUNLIFFE
  • Editor:
    PETER CROKER
  • Director of Photography:
    PIERS LEIGH
  • Sound:
    CRISPIN LARRATT
  • Water Camera :
    ANTHONY BUTLER
  • Water Camera :
    BEN JONES
  • Drone Photography :
    MATT BURTWELL
  • Drone Photography :
    PAT CUMMINS
  • Drone Photography :
    SAM BOYDELL
  • Drone Photography :
    TIM BOYDELL
  • Additional Photography:
    OLIVER CHAPMAN
  • Water Safety Supervisor:
    BEN GRANATA
  • Water Safety Teams:
    ADAM ‘BEARMAN’ GRIFFITHS
  • Water Safety Teams:
    CHRIS DUNKLY
  • Water Safety Teams:
    DAVE IBBERTSON
  • Water Safety Teams:
    DUNCAN WALLACE
  • Water Safety Teams:
    IAN KITTO
  • Water Safety Teams:
    IOAN BALE
  • Water Safety Teams:
    JOHN GILBERT
  • Water Safety Teams:
    JOSH HUGHES
  • Water Safety Teams:
    KYRA DUCROS
  • Water Safety Teams:
    MARTHA KANE
  • Water Safety Teams:
    MARTIN LESLIE
  • Water Safety Teams:
    LLYR FARAGHER
  • Water Safety Teams:
    OLI BAMPTON
  • Water Safety Teams:
    TOM FOREHEAD
  • Water Safety Teams:
    TIGER HARBOUR
  • Location Manager:
    CARN BURTON
  • Archive Footage Courtesy of:
    FIONN ROGERS
  • Archive Footage Courtesy of:
    FRED BERHO
  • Archive Footage Courtesy of:
    JOE BRACEGIRDLE
  • Archive Footage Courtesy of:
    JORGE LEAL
  • Archive Footage Courtesy of:
    STEVE CUMMINGS
  • Archive Footage Courtesy of:
    TOM BUTLER
  • Special Thanks:
    JAMIE BATEMAN
  • Special Thanks:
    NATIONAL TRUST, CORNWALL
  • Graphics :
    JASON KEDGLEY
  • Music:
    EXTREME MUSIC
  • Music:
    LONDON SYNC MUSIC
  • Music:
    NINJA TUNE PRODUCTION MUSIC
  • Post Production Picture:
    THE VIRTUAL POST
  • Colourist & On-line Editor:
    PHILLIPPA BEASLEY-SWANSON
  • Post Production Sound :
    RED SIX SOUND
  • Re-recording Mixer:
    ANREW WILSON AMPS CAS
  • Sound editor:
    OWEN SHIRLEY
  • Sound editor:
    JAY WHITTAKER
  • Production Manager:
    CORINNE BATTERTON
  • Production Assistant:
    KERALA FISHER HART
  • Head of Finance:
    KIM KEYS
  • Programme Consultant :
    TOM BUTLER
  • Executive Producer for Big Wave:
    SARAH CUNLIFFE
  • Executive Producer for the BBC :
    DIANA HARE