The Freshwater Five at Theatre Severn

The Freshwater Five brings true story of five men’s tragic downfall to the stage in a national tour

Tuesday 20th January – Thursday 28th May 2026

Five Fishermen. £53 million of cocaine. An ongoing fight for justice.

Deadman, Isle of Wight theatre company, will embark on a national tour The Freshwater Five in 2026 - a powerful new play that revisits one of the most controversial criminal cases in recent British history.  It asks a simple but devastating question: were five ordinary fishermen innocent men or international drug smugglers?

In 2011, five fishermen from the Isle of Wight - Jamie Green, Jon Beere, Zoran Dresic, Daniel Payne and Scott Birtwistle - were sentenced to a combined total of 104 years in prison after being convicted of conspiracy to import £53 million worth of cocaine. Over the decade since, they have consistently professed their innocence.  Though the last appeal was rejected, the fight for justice continues.

The Freshwater Five, which is the debut work of playwright Liam Patrick Harrison, is a deeply human, poetic and unflinching theatrical exploration of this story. Told by creatives from the Isle of Wight, the team have worked on the island directly with the five men and their families alongside their long-term lawyer, Emily Bolton - founder of APPEAL charity law practice that fights miscarriages of justice and demands reform.

This true crime story grabbles not only with this case but with broader themes of immigration, economic precarity, the impact of drugs in coastal communities and the often-overlooked humanity of Britain’s working-class seafarers.

Blending spectacular storytelling, verbatim testimony, inventive stagecraft, poetry and song, the production brings to life the voices of five men whose lives were shattered - and the families left behind. This is a modern tale centred on coastal communities with thematic parallels to classic maritime epics such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It lays bare the contradictions: no forensic evidence linking the men to the cocaine, no trace of drugs on board their fishing boat, and a Proceeds of Crime investigation that found no unexplained gains.

Fresh from sold-out performances on stages in coastal communities 2023 and 2024, this expanded production will now tour nationally. Led by Deadman artistic director Samuel Bossman, the ensemble aims to present this story with sensitivity, clarity and power offering audiences a chance to form their own judgement on a case that continues to divide opinion.

The Freshwater Five cannot solve the case but it offers a stage for the men, their families and their story highlighting decades of pain, hope, injustice and a community’s demand for answers.