First look at Line of Duty's Stephen Graham in new BBC drama The North Water

Former Line of Duty star Stephen Graham's next role might make the OCG look tame.

The BBC has unveiled the first look as Graham joins the cast of its adaptation of Ian McGuire's acclaimed novel The North Water, already set to star Jack O'Connell as a disgraced former army surgeon serving on an arctic whaling boat with a brutal killer played by The Batman star Colin Farrell.

Graham recently spent three weeks filming in Svalbard at the North Pole alongside fellow new cast members Sam Spruell (Outlaw King), Tom Courtenay (Unforgotten), Peter Mullan (Westworld) and Philip Hill-Pearson (Coronation Street).

In The North Water, Graham will be playing the gruff captain of the whaling ship Volunteer. Tom Courtenay has been cast as the ship's owner.

"Filming on the ship was an incredible experience and one that I will never forget," Graham said in a statement today (November 8).

"To be so privileged to see such beautiful animals like polar bears in their natural habitat – albeit it an ever changing one, sadly – was truly remarkable."

Courtenay added: "I'm thrilled to be working with [writer Andrew Haigh] again on such epic material.”

Production on the BBC's four-part adaptation of The North Water is currently underway in Hungary.

A premiere date on BBC Two hasn't yet been announced.

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