Jonathan Bailey's "compelling" '60s-set British drama is now streaming on the BBC

The Mercy, the "compelling" British drama starring Jonathan Bailey, is now streaming on the BBC. Directed by James Marsh, the film follows Colin Firth as Donald Crowhurst, the real-life amateur sailor who attempted to sail around the world to complete the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race in 1968.

Written by Scott Z Burns and based on a true story, the film stars Rachel Weisz as Donald's wife, Clare, and Bailey as Ian Wheeler, a reporter assigned to cover Donald's voyage.

Joining Bailey, Weisz and Firth in the cast are David Thewlis, Mark Gatiss, Adrian Schiller and Ken Stott.

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The logline reads: "Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz star in the story of British amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst, who attempted to circumnavigate the world solo in 1969 and whose controversial voyage ended in tragedy."

After airing on BBC Two last night, The Mercy is now available to stream on iPlayer for viewers with a TV licence.

The film was a critical hit and currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 73% from 82 reviews.

Den of Geek wrote: "What's great about The Mercy is how it manages to surprise, both in the story it's telling and how Marsh gradually shifts the tone."

"His story is a compelling one, but the film that tells the story doesn't do it full justice. It will be interesting to see if a rival film, Crowhurst, which was made on a much smaller budget, is more successful in this respect," penned The Australian.

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"This is a deep, intelligent portrait of a man with quixotic ideas of making his name, and a man whose soul frayed at sea," said The Daily Telegraph.

The Financial Times said of the film: "Meltdown measured by the cubic millimetre: that's what Firth gives and it's perfect. This is a sea voyage in which we truly navigate by a star."

"Despite the hint of a stiff-upper-lip kind of reserve, this is astonishingly brutal. And Firth's performance makes this dark, dark story land," wrote Empire Magazine.

The Mercy is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy. 

A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre. 

In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.