The Mercy is a 2017 British biographical drama film, directed by James Marsh and written by Scott Z. Burns.

Though only an amateur sailor, Crowhurst believes that technology and gumption will enable him to succeed in a custom trimaran, thus ensuring financial security for his wife and young children.

As delays and costs mount, his main sponsor, Stanley Best, becomes so nervous that Crowhurst is forced to sign promissory notes pledging his company and home to Best.

During his trip he attempts to give an optimistic version of events to both his family and press agent but inwardly he is feeling under pressure due to his financial situation, the dangers he is encountering and his loneliness.

After many months of false coordinates, Crowhurst decides to be vague in his communications, hinting to the newspapers that he is rounding the cape of Africa, while instead sailing slowly and attempting to go unnoticed before returning home.

Crowhurst slows down his return trip to avoid the attention that finishing fastest would bring, knowing that scrutiny would reveal he had fabricated his earlier location reports.

As his family, the press and public expectantly wait for his return, he loses all control of his mind and his situation and in despair realises he cannot go home and only has one way out.

[6] The producers would be Peter Czernin, Graham Broadbent, and Scott Burns, with Nicolas Mauvernay and Jacques Perrin of Galatée Films.

[14] Some scenes were filmed at Chatham Dockyard in Kent, where HMS Gannet was used as the port where the wives of the competition sailors posed for the press.

As well as filming at Bewl Water reservoir in Kent, which features as the Teignmouth inlet where Donald Crowhurst (Colin Firth) sails locally alone and with his family.

The website's critical consensus reads, "The Mercy sails on Colin Firth's layered central performance, which adds necessary depth and nuance that the story sometimes lacks.