Two men board a whaling ship bound for the Arctic. One is running from his past; the other has no past he cares to hide. Andrew Haigh's The North Water follows them into the ice.
What is The North Water about?
Patrick Sumner was once an army surgeon. Disgraced and out of options, he signs on as ship's doctor for a whaling voyage heading north, hoping that distance and hard work will put some space between him and what happened before. Also aboard is Henry Drax, a harpooner whose brutality has been shaped by a trade that rewards it, a man with no moral compass beyond what the moment demands. But as the ship pushes deeper into the Arctic, Sumner begins to realise that the greatest danger on board is human, and that his search for redemption has become something far more elemental. What remains is a struggle to stay alive in a wasteland where the rules of civilisation no longer reach.
About the cast
Colin Farrell and Jack O'Connell head the cast, with Stephen Graham, Tom Courtenay and Peter Mullan alongside them. It is a roster of actors known for physical, unsentimental work, which suits a story set almost entirely among men who have stopped expecting comfort. Performances here are about endurance, wariness and what a face gives away when words run out.
Context & significance
The North Water is a British production from 2021, written and directed by Andrew Haigh. The catalogue files it under drama, mystery and thriller, and it earns all three in turn: the drama of Sumner's attempt to rebuild himself, the mystery of what exactly Drax is capable of, and the thriller mechanics of a confined ship where no one can leave. Episodes run close to an hour. The nineteenth-century whaling trade provides more than scenery; it is a world in decline, staffed by men who have nowhere else to go, and the series treats the grind of that labour with as much seriousness as the violence that erupts from it.
Watching The North Water on Ktime
K-Time carries The North Water with a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so the original English audio and a Farsi track are both on offer. Reading this page costs nothing; watching the episodes requires logging in to a K-Time account. The Farsi interface makes it easy to find, and the series rewards viewers with the patience for a slow, cold, deliberate story.