Blood   Starring: Adrian Dunbar and Carolina Main Distributor: Acorn Media International RRP: £24.99 AV3506 Certificate: 15 Release Date: 03 December 2018

Cat returns home following the sudden death of her mother. Her mother’s health had been in decline for some time, but Cat does not believe that she accidentally fell, hitting her head. Her adversarial relationship with her father makes her pick apart his alibi and in doing so she becomes convinced that he killed her mother...

Blood (2018 6 Eps) is an Irish psychological drama, written by Sophie Petzal and directed by Lisa Mulcahy (eps 1-3) and Hannah Quinn Eps (4-6).

The show stars Adrian Dunbar (Jim Hogan) as the father and Dunbar’s superb acting keeps the audience guessing through the first five episodes as to his innocence. Cat (Carolina Main) protestations of her father’s guilt falls on deaf ears. Partially because she has a reputation for fanciful thinking and partly because the rest of the family rely on Jim’s generosity to keep their lives comfortable.

His son lives at home rent free and his other daughter heavily relies on him, for reasons which are slowly revealed. The death of the mother precipitated an unravelling in the family revealing secrets each of them would rather remain hidden. With the loss of the mother, the glue which kept the family together, all the old animosities come screaming to the surface.

The show may not appeal to everyone with its unremitting dark tone, though there are the occasional lighter moments. Main perfectly compliments Dunbar’s nuanced portrayal of the father. Both characters are multi-layered and only the last episode reveals the truth behind all the lies.

The show is presented on two DVDs, with the show split evenly across the set. Disc one has some extras including interviews with Adrian Dunbar (2 min, 43 sec), Carolina Main (3 min, 15 sec), the supporting cast (4 min, 30 sec), Executive Producer Jonathan Fisher (3 min, 21 sec), Sophie Petzal (2 min, 58 sec) and the crew (7 min, 38 sec). None of it is particularly illuminating, except for the general feeling that this was an important work of home-grown Irish drama.

You also get picture galleries and production stills as well as a behind the scenes, which are more pictures of the cast and crew at work.

It’s a bleak drama, but superbly written and acted, which keeps the audience guessing as Jim and his daughter continue their lifelong conflict.

8

Charles Packer