BBC Two has released the first images from forthcoming drama series The North Water, starring Jack O’Connell, Colin Farrell, Stephen Graham and Tom Courtenay.

The new photos feature O’Connell as Patrick Sumner, Farrell as Henry Drax, and Graham as Captain Brownlee, Courtenay as Baxter. The North Water also stars Peter Mullan, Sam Spruell and Roland Møller.

Set in Hull and on the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s, The North Water’s location work took place primarily in the Arctic, shooting on the frozen seas north of the Svalbard Archipelago.

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The series is based on the novel by Ian McGuire, and tells the story of Patrick Sumner (O’Connell), a disgraced ex-army surgeon who signs up as ship’s doctor on a whaling expedition to the Arctic.

But the ferocity of the elements is matched by the violence of his crew mates, with Drax (Farrell), a harpooner and distinctly brutal force of nature. As the true purpose of the expedition becomes clear, confrontation between the two men erupts, taking them on a journey far from solid ground and beyond the safe moorings of civilisation.

The North Water will debut on BBC Two and iPlayer this autumn.