We meet Henry Drax, a harpooner of the whaling ship Volunteer who rapes and kills a child, "... a brute, a vacuum into which men and boys are sucked and do not emerge alive".

They set sail under the command of Captain Brownlee, who lost his last ship and crew in a disaster at sea; in league with the corrupt shipowner Baxter, he intends to scuttle the Volunteer to carry out an insurance scam.

[4][failed verification]The Guardian's reviewer writes, "The strength of The North Water lies in its well-researched detail and persuasive descriptions of the cold, violence, cruelty and the raw, bloody business of whale-killing.

It stars Colin Farrell as Henry Drax, Jack O'Connell as Patrick Sumner, Stephen Graham as Captain Brownlee, and Tom Courtenay as Baxter.

Executive producers are Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman for See-Saw Films, Niv Fichman for Rhombus Media, and Jo McClellan for the BBC.