‘The North Water’ pics: First look at Colin Farrell’s 1850s Arctic survival drama

The first photos from the BBC’s adaptation of Ian McGuire’s The North Water are here.

Starring Colin Farrell (Saving Mr Banks) and Jack O’Connell (Godless), the four-part mini-series completed its first leg of filming in the Arctic last month.

Travelling as far as 81 degrees north to shoot sequences in the pack ice, it’s believed that this is the furthest point north that a drama series has ever filmed!

Writer and director Andrew Haigh (45 Years, Weekend) has adapted McGuire’s critically acclaimed 2016 novel for BBC Two.

Set in the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s, The North Water has also added Stephen Graham (Line of Duty), Tom Courtenay (The Aeronauts), Peter Mullan (Top Of The Lake), Sam Spruell (Outlaw King), Roland Møller (Atomic Blonde), Philip Hill-Pearson (The Bay) and Kieran Urquhart (Vera) to its cast list.

Stephen Graham said: “Filming on the ship was an incredible experience and one that I will never forget.

“To be so privileged to see such beautiful animals like polar bears in their natural habitat – albeit it an ever changing one, sadly – was truly remarkable.”

Tom Courtenay added: “I’m thrilled to be working with Andrew again on such epic material.”

The official synopsis reads: “The North Water tells the story of Patrick Sumner (O’Connell), a disgraced ex-army surgeon who signs up as ship’s doctor on a whaling expedition to the Arctic.

“On board he meets Henry Drax (Farrell), the harpooner, a brutish killer whose amorality has been shaped to fit the harshness of his world.

“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.”

The North Water will air on BBC Two in the UK in late 2020 or early 2021.

Ian McGuire’s novel The North Water is available on Amazon.