The North Water

This is a top-notch historical saga about a group of savage men hunting for whales in the Arctic, where they become stranded due to a deliberate act of treachery. While the entire effort seems virtually flawless, I write to commend one standout performance among a stellar cast: Colin Farrell!!

Holy whalebone! His is a menacing character indeed! Thoroughly vile and unrepentant. The only thing worse is his dysfunctional relationship with every other character in the plot - the way a foul stain spoils an entire tapestry, his portrayal of Drax stirs a dark mood into every element of this story.

He is so believable that you won't even recognize him for the first half-episode, because he plays his role in a way that is utterly believable but at the same time completely different from every other role that I've seen him portray. Wow!

Watch this show for an excellent bit of historical drama. Enjoy it for Mr. Farrell!!!

This is a superb BBC production.

We need more Victorian dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

Tom Courtenay went from "The Loneliness of the long distance Runner " 1962 to this and he still has it ! A great actor and 59 years of greatness.

Colin Farrell is a beyond evil and brilliant, and our morally greyed area main lead , Jack OConnell is exceptional too.

Great sets, great editing, great atmosphere MORE please.

"The world is hell and men are both the tortured souls and the devils within it."

A dark and twisted Story with great acting from The lead actors especially Colin Farrells one of his best performance of the last decades.

The North Water - based on a book by academic and author Ian McGuire - is a dark and fairly uncompromising quest into the dark heart of humanity aboard a doomed whaling ship in the arctic wastes. A flawless cast (with a mesmerically beastly Colin Farrell), beautiful location shooting in Svalbard (and some of the furthest North for television) and the esoteric soundscapes of Tim Hecker make this a seriously riveting watch. The pace can sometimes slow to a crawl and the heady themes may get a little muddled along the way, but the whole is atmospheric and intoxicating. Seriously good TV - one of the highlights of the year for me.

A dark and twisted tale with some fine acting and good production taking place in the cruel world of whale/seal hunters in the mid of the 19th century. Lots of blood, sweat, grease, crime and violence. A show for a mature audience without any unnecessary gimmicks - recommended if you like such shows like Taboo or The Terror, or movies like In the Heart of the Sea, the classic Moby Dick, The Revenant (DiCaprio), The Vanishing (Gerard Butler) and so on.