Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

The North Water: Arctic drama’s brutal scenes leave nowhere to hide

© BBC/See-Saw Films/Nicolas BolducColin Farrell in North Water.
Colin Farrell in North Water.

Confession time: whenever I hear the dulcet tones of Sir David Attenborough roll from my television, I dive for the remote control and change the channel. I simply cannot watch any creature, big or small, in distress of any kind.

You might say I am burying my head in the sand, but I think Attenborough and his legions of fans are messed up, enjoying filth like that. I even think that Countryfile is for sickos. Keep your bucolic snuff films to yourself, BBC.

So you can imagine my deep (as the Arctic sea) dismay that, after being lulled in by the babely visages of Colin Farrell and Jack O’Connell, I had to watch both actors shoot, bludgeon and gut hapless seals who fruitlessly tried to bop and flop their way to freedom in BBC2’s new gritty Friday night drama, The North Water.

I think I nearly blacked out from the horror of watching those wee seals’ lives flash before their huge, adorable, pleading-for-their-lives eyes, but here’s what I caught about the show before it rendered me, and the animals, a blubbering mess.

Set in 1859, O’Connell plays Patrick Sumner, a clean-cut surgeon with a dark past who joins the crew of a whaling ship heading into the Arctic. Farrell plays Drax, an evil harpooner who is Sumner’s beastly opposite, but also, his mirror.

Who will win their battle of wills? I doubt I have the stomach to stick around and find out.

The North Water BBC2, Friday, 9.30pm