The North Water review: Colin Farrell shines bright in dark tale of whaling era  

Episode one of the new BBC series has the Irish actor playing a nasty harpooner aboard an ill-fated ship 

Colin Farrell in The North Water on BBC One. Picture: Nick Wall

What have they done to our lovely boy? Colin Farrell, one of the most gorgeous Gaels to ever grace the screen. And yet, look what the BBC have transformed him in The North Water. Sullen and swollen and malevolent. Looking like the bullyboy spawn of an evil Hagrid.

The 45-year-old plays Henry Drax, a renowned harpooner aboard a 19th-century English whaling ship heading to the Arctic. In a later episode we'll see him enraptured as he's showered in cetacean blood while plunging his lethal tool home. For now, though, it's all about the introductions, and the adaptation of Ian McGuire's novel wastes no time in putting a 'Big Bad Man' sign over Drax.