As Crozier comes face to face with Hickey at the mutineers’ encampment, this surely signifies the proud captain’s final hours on Earth.

At the beginning of the very first episode we met members of the eventual rescue party talking to the locals and discovering that no-one had survived. This miserable cloud has hung over the series ever since, while we waited for the inevitable moment when the final light was snuffed out… and yet… and yet, all may not be as it seemed. We knew that the engrossing novel by Dan Simmons on which it was based was in itself based on a true story, but what we didn’t know is that in this version of the truth, Crozier survives!

Who would have thought that after the continuous onslaught of horrors piled upon the luckless crews that there might be the chance of hope. And that hope came from the most unlikely of places – Inuit captive Lady Silence – who nurses Crozier back to life after his epic final encounter with the polar beast. I for one believed that no man was a match for the magical bear, but lady luck (as well as Lady Silence) finally allowed a triumph, albeit a hollow one when looking back at all the casualties.

The Inuits are presented as peaceful, noble people, while the British Navy have been belligerent, arrogant and out of their depths at all times. It’s to their credit that the hunters recognised the qualities of Crozier and allowed him to ‘go native’ with them. As an expedition, it was a disaster, as nature reminded man that only the fittest will survive in extremis. At times it has been like watching an accident happen in slow motion, as Ill-considered decisions and the refusal to follow common sense over pride has doomed the whole crew to a fatal end. Not an easy watch, but a fascinating one, and one that never shied away from the grim reality of the situation.

Verdict: A surprisingly positive end to ten episodes in Miseryville, reminding us that hope is something to cling onto… even if those around you are disease-ridden, mutinous, starving and being feasted on by a man-bear chimera! 8/10

Nick Joy