Belfast-set four part first season – with the kidnapping of prominent Catholic businessman Pat Keenan (Peter Ballance), Bloodlands sees the spectre of history and the Troubles rear its ugly head.
Northern Irish police officer DCI Tom Brannick (the ever reliable James Nesbitt) heads up the case but it’s immediately apparent the kidnapping is linked to the cold-case Goliath murders. Four high-profile assassinations, both Catholic and Protestant, were carried out on the eve of the Good Friday Agreement 20 years earlier. They were kept quiet to ensure the peace agreement went through. One of the victims was Brannick’s wife.
Needing to avoid the revival of any sectarian violence, Brannick and his assistant Detective Sergeant Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna) piece together evidence of both the kidnapping and the multiple murders. It leads to the discovery of decomposed bodies on a small, uninhabited island in the middle of Strangford Lough outside Belfast. With evidence having suggested Goliath was an insider within the police force, Brannick treads carefully with the political and personal ramifications of the case only too apparent.
A superior police procedural thriller created and written by Chris Brandon, Bloodlands highlights crimes from the past continuing to impact on the process of reconciliation (Keenan’s family immediately look to their own to find the kidnapped businessman rather than trust the government-run police force). It unexpectedly provides (no spoilers) two midseason reveals which dilute the ‘thrill’ aspect of the series, focussing the narrative on character and that ever-present recent past.
Rating: 63%
An Opinion or Two 