Colin Farrell

BBC Two releases new images of Stephen Graham and Colin Farrell in The North Water

The gallery includes photos of Colin Farrell as Henry Drax, Jack O’Connell as Patrick Sumner, Stephen Graham as Captain Brownlee and Tom Courtenay as Baxter. The series also stars Peter Mullan, Sam Spruell and Roland Møller.

Set in Hull and the ice floes of the Arctic in the 1850s, most of the location shooting took place in the Arctic, with cast and crew sailing as far as 81 degrees north, which is claimed to be the furthest point north any television drama has ever been filmed.

Stephen Graham boards adaptation of The North Water

Captain Brownlee (Stephen Graham) in The North Water (Credit: BBC/Harpooner Films Limited/Dean Rogers)

The North Water is set during the late 1850s and follows a disgraced army surgeon, Patrick Sumner (O’Connell), who attempts to flee from his past by joining a whaling expedition in the Arctic.

Led by Captain Brownlee (Graham) and the ship’s owner Baxter (Courtenay), Sumner serves on the Volunteer as the ship’s medic.

Sumner’s quest for redemption takes a brutal turn when he encounters cruel harpooner Henry Drax (Colin Farrell), whose indifference towards killing reflects the harshness of the Arctic wasteland they’re sailing towards.