Everything you need to know about new BBC police drama Blue Lights

Blue Lights focuses on three fresh-faced officers on probation in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s most dangerous city.

Annie (Katherine Devlin) is scrappy and impetuous, Tommy (Nathan Braniff) is bookish and a terrible shot, and Grace (played by Trying’s Sian Brooke) is naively optimistic about making a difference despite having joined the force in her forties after a career as a social worker.

All three are new police officers in their probation period with the PSNI, and the odds are that at least one of them isn’t going to last.

The pressure is immense, but if they succumb to it, they won’t survive.

Often the rookie officers don’t know the extent of the peril they are in, or who they can trust.

What’s it like to have to hide your job from neighbours, friends and even family?

How do you distinguish between who needs your help and who wants you dead simply because of the uniform you wear?

The new recruits’ affable PSNI colleagues include: PCs Stevie (Marcella’s Martin McCann) and Gerry (Richard Dormer, Game of Thrones), and desk sergeant Sandra (Andi Osho, Line of Duty).

John Lynch (Tin Star, The Fall), Jonathan Harden (Time, Unforgotten) and Valene Kane (The Fall, Gangs of London) also star.

The series features high quality writing from Blue Lights’ co-creators Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson (who also co-wrote The Salisbury Poisonings).

It was filmed completely in Northern Ireland with filming locations including Belfast, Dundonald's Coopers Mill, and Bangor.

Principal photography commenced in February 2022.

The six-part series is made by Two Cities Television and produced with support from Northern Ireland Screen as part of their continued partnership with the BBC.

Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson previously said: “Every writer wants to explore their own place, and their own society as authentically and as honestly as they can. We feel enormously grateful to BBC drama for letting us do that with Blue Lights. And to do it with a cast boasting so much new and established talent makes it even more exciting.”

Though only one episode has aired so far, the series promises action-packed front line police work, as the force attempts to tackle the seemingly untouchable McIntyre crime family, and has its efforts constantly thwarted by the sinister influence of MI5.

The Northern Ireland setting arguably contributes far more than just humour; it’s integral to Blue Lights, and the shadow of The Troubles is never far away, adding a unique sense of danger to the act of policing a city like Belfast.

Much akin to award-winning Northern Irish comedy Derry Girls, Blue Lights does a clever job of keeping the politics prominent but always secondary to the characters’ own problems.

Of the six-part series one online commentator said: “Blue Lights manages to leave you ultimately feeling slightly better about the future of police drama, policing, and maybe even the world in general, which makes it a breath of fresh air”.

Blue Lights airs on Mondays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC One Northern Ireland.

The full series is also available to stream now on BBC iPlayer in the UK.