'It was a weird sense of deja vu': Blue Lights back on screens, with return of Co Armagh star killed off years ago
Hit cop show Blue Lights is back tonight - including the surprise return of a popular character who was killed off in a shock move during its first series.
Constable Gerry Cliff was a veteran of the PSNI, having joined the force in the 1990s. A gruff but likeable mentor to younger officers, his death when he was shot in the line of duty brought home the stark dangers of life on the streets for the show’s characters.
He was played by Co Armagh actor Richard Dormer, who gets back into uniform for series four of the TV smash.
Does he return from the dead? Well, no – spoilers ahead, but the new run of episodes deals with the trial of the constable’s killer and Cliff appears in a series of flashback scenes.
For the Portadown native who plays him, being back on the beat after so long away was “a weird sense of deja vu, but surprisingly easier than I expected”.
Says Richard: “The biggest challenge was rediscovering who Gerry was before the audience met him in series one. He’s younger and much more troubled than audiences would have seen in the first series, so it was about finding that version of him again, even down to his voice.”
The 56-year-old says audiences will see “a much more vulnerable, haunted version” of his character, and will learn details of the Troubles trauma that drove him to become a policeman.
Many of the Blue Lights characters are currently the best known representations of Northern Ireland in media around the world, but it’s not the first time Richard has played one of the icons of Ulster.
He was catapulted to fame in 2012 when he starred as Belfast music scene legend Terri Hooley in the movie ‘Good Vibrations’, named after Hooley’s punk-era record shop and label that launched the Undertones among other major punk names onto the world.
He went on to a substantial role in ‘Game Of Thrones’ and has racked up an impressive number of film and TV credits. Still, he admits he wasn’t quite prepared for the viewing public’s widespread shock and devastation when Gerry Cliff met his end.
“I was surprised by just how big the reaction was,” he says. “I knew the scene would be powerful because I was emotional watching it when re-recording lines, before it was even finished. That spoke to the quality of the writing.”
Richard thinks audiences may be taken aback by his appearance in the new series, as “this isn’t quite the Gerry they remember”.
He reveals: “You catch glimpses of the man he will become, but he’s still finding himself.
“He’s carrying a secret that’s defined him for years, and it’s only when he meets [future wife] Sandra that he really begins to become the person he was always meant to be.”
With ‘Blue Lights’ a massive hit, Richard thinks he’s solved the secret of the show’s success: “It shows police officers as people first.
“They’re flawed, funny, capable and frightened, and it explores the consequences of every decision they make. It never loses sight of the human cost of the job, that’s what makes it so authentic.”
‘Blue Lights’ is on BBC1 tonight at 9pm, and all six episodes of the new series are available now on iPlayer.