James Nesbitt to star in BBC One's Northern Irish crime thriller Bloodlands

James Nesbitt (The Missing, Cold Feet) will star in Bloodlands, a major original crime drama for BBC One, created by exciting new writer Chris Brandon and produced by HTM Television.

When a car containing a possible suicide note is pulled out of Strangford Lough, Northern Irish police detective Tom Brannick (James Nesbitt) quickly connects it to an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance. Bloodlands follows his dogged hunt for a legendary assassin, an explosive cat-and-mouse game where the stakes have never been higher.

Bloodlands is Chris Brandon's first original drama series commission and the first drama from newly formed production company HTM Television. It was commissioned by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama and Charlotte Moore, Controller of BBC Content. The executive producers are Jed Mercurio, Jimmy Mulville and Mark Redhead for HTM Television and Tommy Bulfin for the BBC.

James Nesbitt says: "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. 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."