Ben Stokes documentary to continue filming on England’s West Indies tour

Ben Stokes will have a camera crew with him during next month’s Caribbean tour after becoming the latest high-profile sportsperson to sign up to a documentary about his life and career.

The Guardian has learned that Stokes, 30, has spent the past 18 months secretly working on a feature-length film with TV production company Whisper and his sponsors, Red Bull, that charts the all-rounder’s time both on and off the field.

This period includes the loss of his father, the former New Zealand rugby league international, Ged Stokes, in December 2020 and the break he took from cricket last summer in order to address his mental health and a longstanding finger injury.

Stokes responded to the recent 4-0 Ashes loss by declining this year’s Indian Premier League and declaring Test cricket his prime focus, starting with the three-match series against West Indies; as well as documenting this next phase, the all-rounder will also be looking back on his highs and lows.

The golden summer of 2019 will be re-lived, when Stokes powered England to World Cup glory at Lord’s and pulled off his stunning Headingley heist in the Ashes, as well as his formative years and family life after moving to Cumbria from New Zealand aged 12.

And it is understood the Bristol street fight in 2017 – an incident that cost Stokes a place on that winter’s Ashes tour and saw him found not guilty of affray the following year – is set to be addressed, despite the all-rounder’s previous reluctance to do so.

The project is still at the production stage and no release date or broadcast partner has been confirmed. But Whisper will continue filming next month, while also producing the television coverage of the Test series in the Caribbean.

Teammates have already been