--- We've attempted to avoid spoilers but if you haven't watched season one of Bloodlands, you will want to watch it before you start season 2! ---
There’s no surer sign of quality crime drama than James Nesbitt, and the first season of Bloodlands gave him plenty to work with. Coming from award-winning television producer Jed Mercurio (producer of hit UK series Line of Duty and The Bodyguard), the Northern Ireland-set series was packed with likable characters, tough situations, striking scenery, a sizeable body count, and a view of police work that left black & white morality behind for various murky shades of grey.
When we met DCI Tom Brannick (Nesbitt), he was heading up an investigation looking back at the murderous work of a 1990s IRA assassin codenamed Goliath (named after the giant cranes lining the shipyard at Harland & Wolff – yes, the shipyard that built the Titanic). There were a lot of twists, and a lot of suspects. Goliath, who was basically a serial killer targeting opponents of the peace process, had murdered Brannick’s wife; even that wasn’t enough to rule Brannick out as the killer.
What season one was all about:
The Troubles get the ‘Line of Duty’ treatment in ‘Bloodlands’
Season one ended with a big reveal and almost everyone who knew the secret ending up dead. The second season, once again written by Northern Ireland native and series creator Chris Brandon, is longer than the first (at six episodes) and after the events of season one it’s a little more straightforward. We now know where everybody stands – the question is, how steady is the ground they’re standing on? (Spoiler alert: if you don’t know how season one ends, season two gives it away in the very first scene. So if you haven’t watched , time to get on it.)
Brannick is still a detective in Northern Ireland, and still trying to move on with his life with his daughter Izzy (Lola Pettigrew). And when an accountant’s found shot dead in a deserted field, investigating the murder is just a regular part of that life. But when he arrives to take charge of the investigation, things take a turn. It turns out he knows the dead man, and not in a casual, mates down the pub way.
Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt) with DS Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna) in season 2. Source: BBC / HTM Television / Steffan Hill
The first season had The Troubles rumbling away in the background – specifically, the fear that, if the wrong parts of the past resurfaced, they’d bring the violence of the past with them. This season has the past hanging around the present in a much more concrete form. Twenty-five years ago, an arms shipment to the IRA was intercepted on Salt Island, only it turned out there was more than just guns being smuggled. Stashed along with the guns were a bunch of gold bars. Bars, we soon learn, that have a connection to the newly dead accountant.
Brannick is the kind of cop who plays by his own rules, to put it mildly. So a fortune in gold that’s been hidden for the last 30 years? That previously belonged to a terrorist organisation? That’s the kind of pay day he’s very interested in. The real obstacle to solving the mystery and pocketing the proceeds isn’t his far more law-abiding sidekick, DS Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna), but the accountant’s wife, Olivia Foyle (Victoria Smurfit).
You don’t have to be an expert in film noir to know she ticks all the boxes. Not only was she wife number two (she’d only been married to the accountant eighteen months), but she’s a blonde with the kind of sharp cheekbones that almost always mean trouble. Add in a family home that’s one of those massive glass-walled ultra-modern barns you see dominating the landscape on shows where people throw millions at building their dream mansion, and you’d think alarm bells would be ringing.
What secrets is Olivia Foyle (Victoria Smurfit) hiding? Source: BBC / HTM Television / Steffan Hill
Instead, we get tension of a very different kind. Most grieving widows aren’t so quick to squeeze the hand of the detective who just gave them the bad news. Brannick might have other worries on his mind – a quick bit of calculation reveals the missing gold is now worth over four million pounds – but when he returns for a follow-up chat with Olivia (and without his partner), the conversation quickly turns as much flirty as it is fact-finding. Whenever a character says “you don’t have to be nervous around me”, that’s a sure sign you should.
Still, she’s facing off against James Nesbitt, and from the start their scenes have a spark Nesbitt hasn’t otherwise had much opportunity to show this series. When he’s with her, there’s a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his face; fans of James Nesbitt looking shifty will find a lot to enjoy in just about every other scene.
James Nesbitt and Victoria Smurfit. Source: BBC / HTM Television / Steffan Hill
But that’s the appeal of Bloodlands. Brannick is a dodgy cop at the best of times, and there haven’t been too many of those lately. With a fortune in gold to be gained, is there any line he won’t cross?
Or dive into episode one of season 2:
