Bloodlands

The draw was James Nesbitt and a UK Crime Drama. This one takes you on an unexpected path. It's a great murder mystery set in Ireland's Troubles. Great performances. Interesting twists. I give this series an 8 (great) out of 10. {Police Procedural}

Jed Mercurio was a producer on 'Bloodlands', and the influence of 'Line of Duty' shows: check corrupt police, complicated plot, untrustworthy protagonists, elongated interview scences, and in this case, more than one character with a Northern Irish accent. In fact, the entire story is set in Northern Island, where a contemporary murder sounds echoes of the Troubles. Like 'Line of Duty', it's also very watchable, although the plotting isn't quite as clever. It's a bold move not to give the viewer a central figure to follow throughout, but also a disengaging one. But it's well put together, and supremely watchable, though a little lacking in emotional heft.

I don't understand why reviewers compare programs/movies. I want a variety. While I think Line of Duty is brilliant, I am still enjoying Bloodlands for the history and the stories it has to offer that, frankly, would not possible in Line of Duty.

The locations are beautiful and ones that we are not often privy to - Northern Ireland - as are the politics which involve so many layers of Irish age old problems.

So, enjoy this unique show and what it has to offer in Irish actors and story telling. I have to mention the accents that are unique to that region (of course) when we are so used to the jumble of Londons' lot.

There's been a lot of mention of James Nesbitt's closeups. Yep. There's a lot. Lucky for us he has a versatile face! And you can't miss those raven black eyebrows - they won't let you.

Also, If you're bored, there's the drinking game that you can have which involves the words "Daddy" and "Mummy".

This is an interesting series - with Northern Ireland as a character brings it up several notches.

I'm a consumer of police procedurals in general and Scandi Noir in particular, across all its guises, cultures and languages. Ignore all the bad reviews, watch for yourself, and make up your own minds. It's good by the way. Very good.

This is a strange program -- all the ingredients seem to be there for a good show but it doesn't get there. Part of the problem is that the plotting is twisted and hard to follow, part of the problem is that the characters aren't very well developed, and part of the problem is that the writing is overly cliched -- way too many "'let's go get 'em" and "there he is!" and "this is an important case and we must do our best" kind of lines.

But the other issue is the strangest -- for whatever reason, the camera spends far too much time focused on James Nesbitt's face, as though the storyline depended entirely on his expressions. He's a good actor but do we have to watch him so closely, follow his every facial tic, watch his eyes watch other people? It's almost as if someone said, "hey, let's do a show about James Nesbitt's face and, sure, we can add some plot and some characters if you want." Weird.