Blue Lights (2023 TV series)

Blue Lights is a television drama series, set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, following three probationary police officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the experienced officers who train, mentor, and work with them. The series was broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, premiering on 27 March 2023; it was re-commissioned for a second series, which began broadcast in April 2024.^[1] A third and fourth series have been commissioned.^[2]

Synopsis

The series follows three probationary police officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland assigned to the fictional Blackthorn Station in Belfast.^[3] One of the new officers, Grace Ellis, is an English mother in her 40s, who left her job as a social worker to join the Police Service but only weeks into the job she wonders if she's made the right decision. The series also focuses on fellow rookies Annie Conlon and Tommy Foster; they too struggle under the immense pressure of the job.

Cast

• Siân Brooke – Constable Grace Ellis, a probationer and former social worker (series 1–)^[4]
• Catholic probationer (series 1–)^[4]
• Nathan Braniff – Constable Tommy Foster, a fast-track probationer (series 1–)^[4]
• Richard Dormer – Constable Gerard 'Gerry' Cliff, Tommy's training officer (series 1)^[4]
• Martin McCann – Constable Stephen 'Stevie' Neil, Grace's training officer (series 1–)^[4]
• John Lynch – James McIntyre, the head of a republican crime family (series 1)^[4]
• Jonathan Harden – Inspector David 'Jonty' Johnston, the leader of the response team (series 1–)^[4]
• Valene Kane – Angela Mackle, mother associated with the McIntyres (series 1–)^[4]
• Dane Whyte O'Hara – Gordon 'Gordy' Mackle, teenager working for the McIntyres (series 1)^[4]
• Joanne Crawford – Sergeant/Inspector Helen McNally, the team's second-in-command and later leader (series 1–)^[4]
• Hannah McClean – Constable Jen Robinson, Nicola's daughter and a fast-tracked officer, who later becomes a solicitor (series 1–)^[4]
• Andrea Irvine - Chief Superintendent Nicola Robertson, Jen's mother and the district commander (series 1–)
• Andi Osho – Sergeant Sandra Cliff, a custody and later section sergeant and Gerry's wife (series 1–)^[4]
• Nabil Elouahabi – Joseph, an MI5 intelligence operative (series 1)^[4]
• Desmond Eastwood – Detective Sergeant Murray Canning (series 1–)^[4]
• Frank Blake – Constable Shane Bradley, a response officer and associate of DS Canning (series 2)
• Seamus O'Hara – Lee Thompson, a loyalist ex-soldier (series 2)
• Seána Kerslake – Margaret 'Mags' Thompson, Lee's sister (series 2)
• Craig McGinlay – Craig McQuarrie, an ex-soldier and Lee's right hand man (series 2)
• Dan Gordon – Robert 'Rab' McKendry, a friend of the Thompson family (series 2)
• Derek Thompson – Robin Graham, a retired Special Branch officer involved in a bombing during The Troubles. (series 2)^[5]

Episodes

Series 1 (2023)

Series 2 (2024)

On 20 April 2023, the BBC confirmed that a second series of 6 episodes had been commissioned with filming to begin in Belfast in summer 2023.^[7] Siân Brooke, Martin McCann, Katherine Devlin, Nathan Braniff, Joanne Crawford, Andi Osho, and Hannah McClean are set to reprise their roles. Set one year after the first series, the second is being broadcast from 15 April 2024 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Future

In February 2024, the show was renewed for a further two series.^[1]

Production

The series is written by Declan Lawn, Adam Patterson & Fran Harris.^[8] Director Gilles Bannier described the themes of the series to be:^[9]

how you pass the baton to the next generation and how the generation that is reaching the end should share the experience... it is so important that people should share their experience and yet let the younger generations make decisions for themselves.

Lawn and Patterson were both brought up in Northern Ireland and said there was a disparity between the older and younger actors as to their knowledge of the Troubles with Lawn saying:^[10]

Our more established stars, John Lynch and Richard Dormer, grew up there and knew about the history of the Troubles…it was interesting to see how different age groups reacted to it. The level of violence was a shock to some.

The first series attracted more than seven million viewers and was in the UK’s top ten rated drama programmes in 2023, across all broadcasters and streamers.^[11]

The second series is set a year following the events of the first series, and follows loyalist side of the community in Belfast after the exploration into the nationalist McIntrye family in the first series.^[12]

Filming

The series was filmed completely in Northern Ireland with filming locations including Belfast, Dundonald’s Coopers Mill, and Bangor. Principal photography commenced in February 2022.^[13]

Series 2 commenced filming in August 2023.^[14]

Casting

Sian Brooke said elements of the role felt right to her because her father was a police officer and the script "captured the friendships within the job, and how important they are. How much time you spend with this person in a car. They spend more time with each other than they probably do with anybody else, in this tiny little office on wheels." She also spoke to serving officers, social workers and Belfast residents before filming.^[15]

Broadcast

The series was first broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom at 9 pm on Monday 27 March 2023^[16] with the full series available on BBC iPlayer.

The series is available in Ireland through Raidió Teilifís Éireann on the RTÉ Player.

The series begun broadcasting in Australia on SBS.^[17] The series debuted Thursday, 18 May on SBS On Demand with all six episodes available to stream and played weekly 9.30 pm Thursdays, starting 24 May on SBS.

Reception

Accolades

The series was nominated for Best New Drama at the 28th National Television Awards.^[18] In November 2023, the show was nominated in the Best New Drama Series at the TV Choice Awards.^[19] Peggy Koretzky was nominated in the Best Editing - Scripted category at the 2023 Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards.^[20]

In April 2024, Richard Dormer won for Best Supporting Actor at the IFTA Film & Drama Awards. The series was also nominated for Best Drama and Best Script, with Martin McCann nominated for Best Actor.^[21][22]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Blue Lights holds an approval rating of 90% based on 10 reviews.^[23]

Anita Singh writing in The Daily Telegraph awarded the series five stars and said "Blue Lights won’t receive a fraction of the hype of Line of Duty, but there isn’t a duff line or an overcooked scene to be found here".^[24] Rebecca Nicholson for The Guardian also gave the show five stars. Nicholson said she was "engrossed", describing it as "well-crafted, fantastically tense, thrilling stuff",^[25] and "one of the best shows of the year“.^[26] Ian Acheson in The Spectator called it a "near perfect cop drama" that "manages to humanise the lives of the men and women in the Police Service of Northern Ireland without mawkishness" that despite "some procedural howlers that have clearly been let loose in the service of the storylines", leaves viewers "in for a rare treat."^[27] But the series was panned in The Independent, with Sean O’Grady describing the central characters as either “loathsome or pathetic" and in some cases "both".^[28] Benji Wilson of The Telegraph awarded the second series five stars out of five, writing that “The Belfast-set cop show’s fantastic first series was a hit for the BBC and the second is just as good – this is must-watch TV.”^[29]

References

External links

• Blue Lights at
  IMDb
• Blue Lights at epguides.com