Sky Documentaries and The Observer join forces to unpick one of modern literature’s most beloved — and most disputed — true stories…
When The Salt Path was published in 2018, it was hailed as a modern classic — a deeply human tale of endurance, love and redemption on the wild edges of Britain. Raynor Winn’s memoir of losing everything and walking the South West Coast Path with her husband, Moth, became the ultimate story of resilience.
It topped bestseller lists, filled book club shelves, and inspired a major film starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs. For years, the story was untouchable: part love letter to nature, part parable for hard times.
But this winter, Sky Documentaries’ new one-off special The Real Salt Path looks beyond the myth.
The film, made by Candour Productions in collaboration with The Observer, follows journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou as she revisits the book that captivated a nation — and investigates the people behind it.
What began as a literary success story has become one of the most unexpected controversies in recent publishing history.
A story unravels
Earlier this year, The Observer published an explosive investigation after Chloe Hadjimatheou received an anonymous tip-off about inconsistencies in the Winns’ memoir. Reading the book “with a journalist’s eye,” she began to spot things that didn’t quite add up.
Months of digging — through archives, interviews and paper trails — revealed a different picture from the one printed. The newspaper’s findings, published in July, questioned the accuracy of key claims and prompted a national conversation about truth, authorship, and what readers want from “true stories.”
Now, Sky’s documentary gives audiences a front-row seat to the next chapter of that investigation. With exclusive access to new evidence, fresh testimony from whistleblowers, and the people who knew the Winns before their famous walk began, The Real Salt Path aims to separate fact from literary fiction.
Behind Britain’s great literary mystery
“It’s a very British whodunnit,” says Anna Hall, founder of Candour Productions. “For some people it’s a story of betrayal — for others, of misunderstanding. But it also forces us to ask why certain stories grip us so tightly, and what happens when they start to slip away from the truth.”
At the heart of the documentary lies a broader question: in the age of memoir-as-brand, what do readers really expect from “truth”? The Salt Path was celebrated precisely because it felt authentic — a stripped-back account of survival, loss, and redemption against the harsh beauty of the British coast. But what happens when a national comfort story becomes a national controversy?
For Hayley Reynolds, Acting Director of Sky Documentaries, that tension made the project irresistible:
“This film brings together world-class journalism and filmmaking to explore one of Britain’s most remarkable modern-day literary phenomena — and the truth that lies beneath it. At Sky Documentaries, we’re always drawn to stories that challenge perceptions and ask difficult questions.”
If The Salt Path was about finding truth in nature, The Real Salt Path asks what happens when that truth is called into question. It’s part literary mystery, part moral inquiry — and entirely of its time.
At a moment when fact and feeling increasingly blur, and when memoir has become a kind of collective therapy, this is a story not just about one couple, but about us: what we believe, and why we so badly want to believe it.
Alice Sandelson, Strategic Partnerships Director at The Observer:
“It’s been remarkable to see how The Observer’s Real Salt Path investigation captured the public imagination. We’re thrilled to bring Chloe’s ongoing investigation to screen — and to work again with Candour and Sky to tell it.”
The Real Salt Path
A Candour Productions film for Sky Documentaries and The Observer
Airs December 2025 on Sky Documentaries and NOW
