One look at James Nesbitt’s face tells you we’re in for serious business. The star of “The Missing,” a gripping drama about a man’s search for his vanished child, returns in “Bloodlands,” streaming on Acorn.
We first meet Tom Brannick as a poker-faced dad meeting his daughter’s intended for the very first time. Four minutes into this domestic scene and he’s called off to work, a surprise assignment that involves loading a handgun before starting his car.
He’s Det. Tom Brannick, of the Belfast police, sent to investigate a car ditched in the harbor linked to a local mob figure long associated with the IRA. As he makes clear to his subordinates (and to viewers), the lines separating political provisionals and organized crime are rather murky at best.
Evidence found at the scene stuns Brannick into silence. A postcard sends the clear message that an old killer has returned, an assassin linked to several murders from the time of the 1998 accords that brought peace to Northern Ireland. The murders were thought ugly and incendiary enough to potentially scuttle the fragile peace, so officialdom swept the case under the rug — despite the fact that the killer may have been inside the force. And despite the fact that one of the victims was Brannick’s wife.
This taut drama showcases Nesbitt at his most intense, playing a man for whom police work, the personal and the political are linked in every conceivable way. Highly recommended.
— “America’s Most Wanted” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) returns to its original network. The nonfiction series was part of the network’s early years, along with “Cops” and “The Simpsons.” Hosted with unstinting seriousness by John Walsh, it presented tales of heinous crimes and perpetrators on the run. Over its long run on both Fox and Lifetime, it succeeded in getting viewers to turn in neighbors and strangers they suspected of being the fugitives under discussion.
It returns tonight with host Elizabeth Vargas, sporting its original toll-free hotline: 1-800-CRIME-TV (274-6388).
— A last-minute complication threatens to stain the rose-petaled path to Matt’s happiness on the season finale of “The Bachelor” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG). A reunion and recap follow (10 p.m.), with intimations of an earthquake for “Bachelor Nation.”
— A patient named Susan presents a sad but familiar trajectory from personal injury to OxyContin prescription to heroin addiction and “Intervention” (9 p.m., A&E, TV-14).
— With a 2017 Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour,” Gary Oldman is at the center of award chatter for the “Citizen Kane”-inspired biopic “Mank,” now streaming on Netflix. He was also nominated for best actor for playing George Smiley in the 2011 adaptation of John le Carre’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (9 p.m., HBO2). The film is also available to stream on HBO Max.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Hen glances back on “9-1-1” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
— Jilted by an older woman, a swaggering servant seduces her daughter in the 2020 shocker “Pool Boy Nightmare” (8 p.m., LMN, TV-14).
— Eyewitness testimony comes under scrutiny on “All Rise” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG).
— Graver concerns keep key players and coaches from the big game on “Beartown” (9 p.m., HBO, TV-MA).
— A son’s allegation leads to Mom’s exhumation on “Bull” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
— A space brick illuminates an earthly secret on “Debris” (10 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— The “Independent Lens” (10 p.m., PBS, r, TV-PG check local listings) documentary “My Country No More” surveys North Dakota’s boom-to-bust fracking experience from the point of view of a young woman descended from generations of farmers and ranchers who has seen her community divided and land despoiled.
— Host Sunny Anderson oversees a Peeps-centric parade of holiday confections on “Easter Basket Challenge” (10 p.m., Food, TV-G).
CULT CHOICE
A departure from her sunny comedies, Doris Day stars as a stewardess stalked by her homicidal husband (Louis Jourdan) in the 1956 thriller “Julie” (12:30 a.m., TCM, TV-PG).
SERIES NOTES
A treehouse misunderstanding on “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) … The third season of the U.K. import “Bulletproof” (8 p.m., CW, TV-14) opens with a vacation in South Africa … Bob curries favor with a potential in-law on “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … A line crossed on “Black Lightning” (9 p.m., CW, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes John Oliver, Brian Tyree Henry and Japanese Breakfast on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Gwen Stefani appears on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (11:35 p.m., ABC) … Jennifer Garner, Rep. Jamie Raskin and Valerie June visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC).
