A new five part period drama shown in the UK on BBC Two called The North Water was broadcast on September 10th, 2021, but premiered on AMC on July 15th, 2021.

It stars Colin Farrell, Jack O’Connell and the ubiquitous Stephen Graham. It begins in the English port of Hull in 1859 as a whaling ship gets ready to set sail for the Arctic. I found the storyline, acting and production values to be excellent. I am genuinely interested in seeing how the story progresses and will tune in for the next four episodes. My only complaint, one which is shared with Helen Lewis of, The Sunday Times, was that the first twenty minutes or so was so dark I could barely see what was happening. Helen Lewis said she “had to turn up the brightness.” Anyway, check out the review by Lucy Mangan of, The Guardian and the YouTube trailer below and see if it is your cup of tea.

TNW01.jpg

TNW02.jpg

The North Water is a BBC Two five-part television series, based on Ian McGuire's novel of the same name. The series premiered on AMC+ on July 15, 2021.

Premise
"Farrell plays Henry Drax in the drama, a harpooner and brutish killer whose amorality has been shaped to fit the harshness of his world, who will set sail on a whaling expedition to the Arctic with Patrick Sumner, a disgraced ex-army surgeon who signs up as the ship’s doctor. Hoping to escape the horrors of his past, Sumner finds himself on an ill-fated journey with a murderous psychopath. In search of redemption, his story becomes a harsh struggle for survival in the Arctic wasteland."[1]
Source: Wikipedia

TV review Culture

The North Water review – a riveting voyage of blood, sweat and beards

Jack O’Connell faces down Stephen Graham in a rousing drama that requires no deep thought and provides fathomless fun

Lucy Mangan
Fri 10 Sep 2021 14.00 BST Last modified on Fri 10 Sep 2021 22.30 BST

It is September, and time for the televisual equivalent of 40 denier tights, sweaters and defiantly unsalady food at last. BBC Two has provided it, in the form of five-part series The North Water, directed by Andrew Haigh and adapted by him from Ian McGuire’s book of the same name.

It’s got just what you need as the nights draw in. The plot is a meaty, satisfying stew that is not going to trouble your mental digestion. We are in Hull in 1859 and we open with a group of boys poking a dead dog with sticks, and a sexual tryst between a man and a lady of the night. The man in question is a black-hearted drunkard named Henry Drax (Colin Farrell, burdened by the kind of wig that should have been outlawed by the Hague by now).

But Drax is also a master harpoonist, which makes him a sought-after man in a Victorian port if nowhere else. He is bound for the same whaling ship – the Volunteer – as the disgraced former army surgeon Patrick Sumner (Jack O’Connell). The doctor is haunted by his experiences fighting in India and by visions of a small boy who brought him water in the aftermath of battle . . .
For the full review see: The Guardian