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Bloodlands (2021)

2021 · Crime,Drama,Thriller · crime-procedural, period-near-history, political-drama

Bloodlands poster

Bloodlands is a slow-burn Northern Irish crime thriller in which DCI Tom Brannick investigates a contemporary kidnapping that reopens cold-case murders from the eve of the Good Friday Agreement, implicating the police itself in Troubles-era violence. Produced by Jed Mercurio, it sits firmly in the UK deliberative crime tradition — plot-heavy, dialogue-driven, morally murky — but distinguishes itself through its specific regional and political texture: the weight of Irish history, rarely-televised landscapes, and the unresolved trauma of sectarian conflict as an active investigative context. Tone is serious and restrained, with twists deployed methodically rather than sensationally. Aimed at viewers who watch British crime drama for its procedural intelligence and political layering rather than action or emotional catharsis.

From the reviewers

the script is intelligent and full of unforeseeable twists. Especially halfway and during the finale, there are some perplexing twists.
James Nesbitt in the lead role is somewhat a mixed bag. I like him as an actor, especially since his powerful role in 'The Missing', and he fits the character, but his performance is wickedly uneven.
what I definitely enjoyed most about 'Bloodlands' was the Irishness; - duh! The history lessons, the trivia, the accents, and even one sequence in genuine Irish language.
It's a bold move not to give the viewer a central figure to follow throughout, but also a disengaging one.
it's well put together, and supremely watchable, though a little lacking in emotional heft.

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