As Cold As Ice

A big shout out for the BBC for showing the fantastic supernatural horror series 'The Terror' this Wednesday. A pseudo-historical drama based on the 2007 book by Dan Simmons about the Royal Navy attempt to find the North West Passage in 1845. The two ships 'Terror' and 'Erebus' were reported lost with all hands and the AMC production, overseen by Ridley Scott, attempts to unravel the mystery.

Besides being a great story from the first opening, it is visually and historically exacting and is played beautifully by a largely British troupe of actors. Not for the faint hearted or the weak stomach, it is grisly and unflinching in its depiction of both the privations and the accidents that the beleagured crew must endure, but also of surgical procedures and elemental savagery in an alien land.

Watch the trailer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p096q6b5

The series went on to a second season, 'The Terror: Infamy' which documents the struggles of japanese residents in wartime America, again based on historical data combined with a sinister supernatural threat. For me though, the first series set in the Arctic is head and shoulders above most recent historical dramas.