The Narrow Road To The Deep North is a sweeping Australian saga that brings to life the bestseller by Richard Flanagan. Coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer, the five-parter follows the life of Dorrigo Evans, played by Saltburn star Jacob Elordi, from the passion of his first love, through his time as a prisoner of war in occupied Burma, to his later years as a revered surgeon and reluctant war hero. The Damned’s Odessa Young plays Amy Mulvaney, Dorrigo’s true love, while Belfast and Kin star Ciarán Hinds portrays Dorrigo as an older man.
Here’s everything you need to know about the BBC One drama The Narrow Road To The Deep North…
The Narrow Road to the Deep North release date
The Narrow Road To The Deep North is a five-part series that will be shown in the UK on BBC1 from Sunday 20 July 2025 at 9pm with epiosdes running weekly at the same time and available as a box set drop on BBCiPlayer.
The Narrow Road To The Deep North was released on Prime Video in the US from Friday April 18 2025.
How to watch The Narrow Road to the Deep North: stream the Aussie drama series online
The Narrow Road To The Deep North plot
The Narrow Road To The Deep North follows Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans (Jacob Elordi as younger Dorrigo and Ciaran Hinds) as the older man, who in his old age is recognized as a war hero. But he finds his fame at odds with his feelings of guilt and failure and he's haunted by his memories of an illicit love affair with his uncle's wife and his experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war forced to work on the notorious Burma Death Railway, where one in three workers died during its construction. The series should follow the same plot as the novel, although there may be some differences. Life in the prison camp is terrible, with Allied soldiers suffering from malnutrition, disease and brutal treatment at the hands of their Japanese guards.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North cast — Jacob Elordi on playing Dorrigo
Jacob Elordi plays the self-loathing doctor, Dorrigo Evans as a young man. He says: "‘There’s an inherent stoic selfishness to Dorrigo. He’s like a man on an odyssey all his life — a singular hero’s journey — that’s his greatest flaw. But it’s what got him through the war."
Preparing for those wartime scenes proved a real challenge for the cast, yet it was one Jacob relished. "We had a six-week prisoner bootcamp beforehand to lose weight," he says. ‘There’s something that happens when you’re hungry, all you can think about are the men that are in front of you, if they're going to be okay and where your next meal is coming from."
* Jacob Elordi starred in the hit 2023 movie Saltburn and played Elvis in the 2023 film Priscilla. Jacob has also been in The Kissing Booth, Euphoria, Deep Water and On Swift Horses.
Who else is starring in The Narrow Road to the Deep North?
Odessa Young (The Damned, The Staircase) plays Dorrigo’s lover Amy. Ciarán Hinds (Kin, Belfast, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) is playing Dorrigo Evans in his later years. Masa Yamaguchi, Max Berkman, Brendan Kelly, Joel Aaron Baker and Luca Timpano Bilbatua round out the cast.
All about the The Narrow Road to the Deep North novel
"The Narrow Road to the Deep North" was written by Tasmanian author, historian and film director Richard Flanagan. It was his sixth novel and won the 2014 Booker Prize. Flanagan has said that the book was inspired by his father’s experience as a Japanese prisoner of war. He has also written Question 7, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Death of a River Guide and Gould’s Book of Fish.
Is there a trailer?
No not yet but when the BBC releases one, we’ll post it up on here.
Behind the scenes and more on The Narrow Road to the Deep North
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is produced by Curio Pictures and distributed globally by Sony Pictures Television. The series is directed by Justin Kurzel and adapted by writer Shaun Grant from Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. Porter, Gardner, Kurzel, Grant and Flanagan are also executive producers, with Alexandra Taussig producing. Principal production funding is provided by Screen Australia, with assistance from the NSW Government through Screen NSW’s Made in NSW and PDV Funds.
Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition, says: “The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a complex, beautiful, and heart-wrenching series which sensitively interweaves several stages in the life of surgeon Dorrigo Evans, from the passion of first love, to the unflinching depiction of life as a prisoner of war in occupied Burma. We are so very pleased to bring this truly exceptional adaptation to BBC viewers.”
Curio Pictures’ Jo Porter and Rachel Gardner, who both serve as executive producers, say: “The Narrow Road to the Deep North is an epic tale of the sustaining power of love under the harshest of circumstances. Curio is honored to help bring to this spectacular story to life with creators Shaun Grant and Justin Kurzel, novelist Richard Flanagan and our brilliant cast and crew We can’t wait for audiences to see it.”
