Frozen With fear

Jack O’Connell and Colin Farrell set sail on a perilous Arctic voyage in a thrilling seafaring saga

- SEAN MARLAND

NEW DRAMA

The North Water Friday, BBC2 HD, 9.30pm

The icy waters of the Arctic Ocean provide a breathtaking backdrop to BBC2’s epic new period drama about a whaling expedition that descends into rivalry, murder, and a fight for survival.

The dark five-part tale begins in Hull during the late 1850s, with Army surgeon Patrick Sumner returning from India to join Captain Brownlee’s crew on whaling ship The Volunteer.

Haunted by his part in putting down the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Sumner hopes for a new life at sea, but he isn’t the only man with a dark secret. Unbeknown to him, Captain Brownlee (Stephen Graham) and The Volunteer’s owner, Baxter (Sir Tom Courtenay), have hatched a plot to sink her in insurance fraud.

‘Sumner developed an opium addiction during his time in India,’ says Jack O’Connell, 31, who plays him. ‘He maintains a professional persona to hide it, but behind that, he’s a broken mess.