Bloodlands Series 2 Review: Only James Nesbitt’s frown could overpower the soundtrack

Do not forget Bloodlands (BBC One), in which James Nesbitt played a Northern Irish detective who did bad deeds while hanging out with glamorous blondes? Well, he’s back for a second series. The glamorous blonde in the first series has unfortunately been shot, but don’t worry, she’s replaceable. Twenty minutes in and a woman who fits the job description perfectly is sobbing over her husband’s death while caressing Nesbitt’s knee.

You’ll have to remember a little more if you want to fully understand the plot. In the first series, we learned that in 1998 DCI Tom Brannick (Nesbitt) shot dead two members of a paramilitary unit who had taken up arms on an island in Strangford Lough. Let’s skip the convoluted stuff that followed and go back to this episode where we discover that gold bars were also included in the weapons shipment. They ended up in the hands of an accountant who – it turns out – was an acquaintance of Brannick’s, named Colin Foyle. He too was shot. Lots of people get shot in the Bloodlands.

The selling point of the first series was that we initially believed that Tom Brannick was one of the good guys, only to find out that he was hiding a very dark past. With this knowledge, we begin the second series, which makes the proposal different.

His partner Niamh McGovern (Charlene McKenna) has doubts about him. McGovern is the best thing here, horrifying Brannick about his age when they hear that the witness works in a nightclub: “You should go. I heard they give a discount for seniors.” What about the rest? Well, it’s pretty grim (do they have sunshine in Northern Ireland? This show suggests they don’t) and largely consists of Nesbitt looking shifty, angry, stressed or ominous. Composer Ruth Barrett’s tense soundtrack returns and is so dominant that at times it feels like a theme tune with a little drama.

The plot is good enough to bring me back for another episode, but dramas can feel like a drag when the central character is unlikeable and potentially everyone is lying. We can’t believe anything Brannick says. We can’t believe anything the widow (Victoria Smurfit) says. And I’m not sure if we should trust the head of the department Jackie Twomey (Lorcan Cranitch) or not.

At least they spiced things up by crossing the show with Grand Designs and placing Smurffit’s character, Olivia Foyle, in a row of extravagantly glazed houses that would have Kevin McCloud beaming with excitement.