This sounds very exciting.
James Nesbitt will play the lead in the new BBC One detective drama Bloodlands, and will be produced by Line of Duty and Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio’s production company.
Bloodlands will be a major crime drama for the BBC and will be filmed in Northern Ireland.
It’s written by Chris Brandon, who only has a couple of episodes of Red Rock to his name, and is Hat Trick Mercurio Television’s debut commission.
“It’s been incredibly rewarding to discover Chris Brandon’s work and to witness the development of an outstanding new voice in contemporary television thriller writing, added to which everyone at HTM Television is honoured an actor of James Nesbitt’s brilliance will star in our debut production,” Jed Mercurio, Executive Producer for HTM Television, said.
The series will follow police detective Tom Brannick (Nesbitt) as he discovers a possible suicide note taken from Strangford Lough and connects it to an infamous cold case close to him.
Bloodlands follows his dogged hunt for a legendary assassin, an explosive cat-and-mouse game with the BBC saying, “the stakes have never been higher.”
“It’s great to be back making a drama in and about Northern Ireland, which now has a film and television industry as good as any in the world,” James Nesbitt said.
“We have compelling scripts from a brilliant young writer who was raised in County Down, which are very exciting and psychologically complex. I can’t wait to start.”
Filming will take place around Belfast and Strangford Lough with more casting announcements expected in due course.
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