One of Goliath’s victims was Brannick’s wife, who worked in intelligence, leaving him as a single father to a daughter who is now in med school. The personal connection that Brannick has to the current kidnapping-which happens to be of an ex-IRA leader-is that the MO of the perpetrator matches that of an assassin in 1998 the police dubbed “Goliath.” Someone who worked within the police force itself, Goliath executed members on both sides of the Troubles who they thought were a risk to the peace talks, all of which was covered up. It restricts the forward momentum of the story, which settles early-on into a kind of sleepy patter of expected crime beats-despite director Pete Travis’ liberal use of a shaky cam to inject a little more life into the story. There is a lot of telling and not showing in the first two episodes made available for review, and a hefty dose of “both sides-ism” regarding the history of Northern Ireland’s bloody past.
However, there is a heavy reluctance to revisit this particular cold case by the police force, because it dates back to the end of The Troubles and the brokerage of a peace agreement.Įxplaining the context of these events, the cases, and how they relate both to the police force and to Detective Chief Inspector Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt) means that Bloodlands also goes hard on exposition (and yes, subtitles are a must). Like the great crime series Unforgotten, Bloodlands’ main crime story hinges on a present-day event (in this case, a kidnapping) that reopens a cold case. But the series, created by Chris Brandon, does at least introduce a different setting: North Ireland, which comes with a lot of historical baggage. on Acorn TV, leans hard into these tropes to start. Watching a British crime show is to always come away with a certain satisfaction, even if it doesn’t break new ground.īloodlands, a four-episode drama premiering in the U.S. They’re often short, dark, twisty, and feature an older, recognizable lead with a young, up-and-coming partner. There’s a formula and familiarity to them in the same way there is watching any given Law and Order in the U.S.
For fans of the genre, many of these series are both enjoyable and interchangeable. Wind, rain, steely protagonists, class issues, those bright black and yellow-checked police vests. There’s a certain expectation that comes with modern crime dramas from the British isles.