Boyd Hilton speaks to the cast and creatives behind series two of hit detective drama Bloodlands, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Panel:
Jed Mercurio - Producer
Chris Brandon - Creator and Writer
Victoria Smurfit who plays Olivia Foyle
James Nesbitt who plays DCI Tom Brannick
Boyd Hilton - Chair
Created and written by Chris Brandon, the new six-part series will see the return of James Nesbitt as the lead character DCI Tom Brannick.
Nesbitt will be joined by Victoria Smurfit, who plays Olivia, an enigmatic widow who is at the heart of Brannick’s latest case, but looks may deceive, as Smurfit’s intentions aren’t as innocent as they seem.
At the end of the last series, the identity of legendary assassin Goliath was shockingly revealed to be Brannick.
The series, adapted from Christoffer Boe’s Danish series Forhøret, will star James Nesbitt (Bloodlands), Joely Richardson (The Tudors), Anne-Marie Duff (Sex Education), Richard E. Grant (Loki), Ben Miller (Bridgerton), Niamh Algar (Deceit), Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor), Sacha Dhawan (The Great), Sam Heughan (Outlander) and Imogen King (Clique).
From the team behind The Stranger and Safe, the series will follow three key characters whose sinister past resurfaces to threaten their everyday lives. Harlan Coben and Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic) will be collaborating alongside Richard Fee and Nicola Shindler to write and create the series.
The series will see Stay Close relocate to an English setting from the States.
Nesbitt plays a Northern Irish police detective, Tom Brannick, who is dragged into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse when a car containing a suicide note is pulled out of Strangford Lough.
Brannick connects the note to an infamous cold case that is deeply personal and puts him on the hunt for a legendary assassin.
Nesbitt commented: “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.
The six-part series will pick up after the end of series eight, where Jenny (Fay Ripley) prepared herself for the rest of her cancer treatment with husband Pete (John Thomson) by her side.
David (Robert Bathurst) was slowly rebuilding his life after becoming homeless, while Adam (James Nesbitt) and Karen (Hermione Norris) were coming to terms with their new romantic relationship and the impact it had on the rest of the group.
Commissioned by A+E Networks UK, the series takes a unique and extraordinary look at some of the most impactful events to have affected Britain in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Set to air in early 2018 on History, the original six-part series will unravel the events that led to some of the most devastating disasters of the past 60 years.
James Nesbitt will be returning as Detective Inspector Harry Clayton in a third series of Stan Lee's Luck Man next year, whilst Noel Clarke (Adulthood) and Ashley Walters (Top Boy) are teaming up in police drama Bulletproof.
The original productions are both part of Sky's initiative to bring viewers action-packed British dramas, featuring UK's best actors.
From writer/director Will Sharpe and starring Olivia Colman (Broadchurch) and Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), the eccentric Flowers family are undergoing something of a meltdown.
Maurice (Barratt) is a children's author, while his wife Deborah (Colman) is a trombone teacher. Both are dealing with their own demons, and are quietly helpless as their marriage falls apart.
The return reinforces Sky’s commitment to high-quality year-round drama which has to date included hit shows like You, Me and the Apocalypse, Hooten and the Lady and Fungus the Bogeyman.
