After the ‘bear’ attack on the away party, the icebound sailors fear that the creature has tracked them back to their ships.

Unafraid to pace itself at a slow crunch through the snow for most of its running time, when something does eventually go wrong ten minutes before the end, boy does it pack a punch. The food is rotting, the crew are fearing they’ll never be freed… there’s a lot of despair.

Ciaran Hinds owns the episode as Captain John Franklin. His hubris is such that he refuses to accept the more sensible suggestions of others, flashing back in time to reveal that he had problems long before setting off on his fateful voyage. He believed that by completing this mission he could restore his tarnished reputation, and now realises that even if he manages to survive, he will be ruined.

A morale-boosting trip to the guards in an outpost and a grand photo opportunity (who’s possibly ever going to see it?) are all setup for the moment of violence, which is brutal, fast and with significant consequences. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s frayed tempers below decks, with a forbidden relationship and clear factions developing across the fractious crews.

Verdict: An important episode that ensures things will never be the same again, it’s just hard to see how this grim tone will play out for the next seven episodes, with little chance of hope or salvation. 8/10

Nick Joy