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A gritty backdrop, heart-wrenching plotlines and a will-they-won’t-they relationship that’ll have you on the edge of your seat. If you haven’t watched Blue Lights, the cult BBC police drama, you’ve got some catching up to do.
The third series of the hugely-popular BAFTA-award-winning show, which drew seven million viewers per episode at its peak, started last week and is already receiving rave reviews.
Following a group of probationary police officers in Belfast, a city still haunted by sectarian violence several decades after the Troubles, the series charts both the risks and brutality of their day-to-day work, as well as their personal strife – with a hefty dose of dark humour.
So what’s behind the phenomenal success of the series dubbed the new Line Of Duty? Sarah Rainey takes a look behind the scenes of the most talked about show on TV…
THE SERIES THAT NEARLY DIDN’T GET MADE
The idea for Blue Lights was first raised in 2019 by producer Louise Gallagher and Stephen Wright, former head of drama at BBC Northern Ireland who was also the executive producer on Line Of Duty.
But when they approached Declan Lawn, a former investigative journalist for Panorama, and Adam Patterson to write it, they were ‘initially very reluctant’.
‘The issue of policing in Northern Ireland is so political we felt it could be very divisive,’ explains Lawn, 48, in an interview with the Daily Mail. ‘Making a TV series about it could be a big risk.’
What changed their mind was going out on the beat with three response officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
‘They told us what it was like to be a police officer here – checking under your car for bombs every morning; not being able to tell your friends or family what you do; facing horrific threats at work.
‘It convinced us that we had to tell their stories,’ says Lawn who has lived in the city for 23 years.
Determined to make a drama that ‘focused on character, we didn’t want it to be a thriller with plot twists’, the pair took their inspiration from American crime series The Wire starring Idris Elba. ‘Adam and I loved that show and we wanted to do something similar in Belfast,’ says Lawn.
THE LEADING LADY WHO BLEW THEM AWAY
When writing series one, Lawn had only ‘images in my head of what the actors would look like’.
Initially, they conceived the character of Constable Grace Ellis as Northern Irish, but when Sian Brooke, the Staffordshire actress who’s had roles in Doctor Foster, Sherlock and the Apple TV+ series Trying, came along she changed their minds.
‘We asked her to do the audition in her own accent and, based entirely on how brilliant she was, we decided to make Grace an outsider, and re-wrote the part around her,’ the writer explains.
A series favourite from the start, viewers have watched her character – a former social worker and single mother – fall for her charming police partner, widower Stevie Neil (Martin McCann), despite her determination to keep things between them professional.
Series three, however, gives Grace her most dramatic storyline to date – a youngster she once cared for in a children’s home is caught up in a violent drugs gang.
Brooke, 45, also brings personal experience to the series – her father was a police officer, who worked his way up to become a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detective.
She also admits the role sometimes seeps into her own life. ‘I’ll be in my car, spot things on the street and say, “What’s going on over there?” My husband has to remind me, “Sian, you’re not a police officer”.’
DETAILS ROOTED IN REALITY
Viewers are drawn to Blue Lights for the tiniest details about the characters – the way Grace and Stevie argue over which song to play in their patrol car, for example, and Stevie’s love of baking. Both quirks are rooted in reality.
Each season, the co-creators spend three to four months painstakingly interviewing 25 police officers of all ranks and experience about the impact the job has on their personal life.
‘There was a cop who had a Tupperware box of buns in his car one day when we went out on a shift,’ says Lawn.
‘He told us that he bakes and brings stuff in for his colleagues – not just because the station food is so bad, but because it helps boost morale.’
As for the music: ‘The car is their office, it’s their precinct. It’s a little room they’re in together for nine, ten hours straight.
‘And so how that car is, is really important to them – the kind of music they play; the food they’re eating; the coffee. When you’re dealing with horrific events, you’re going to take every little comfort you can.’
Some memorable lines, too, have been lifted directly from dialogue the writers overheard.
‘Sneaky beakies’ (MI5 agents), for example, is real-life police slang as was the catchphrase of Constable Gerry Cliff – played by Richard Dormer, who was dramatically killed off at the end of series one – who always told his colleagues: ‘Take a beat.’
RELATIONSHIPS THAT TUG AT HEARTSTRINGS
‘The section’s like a flipping dating shop,’ says Stevie, in one of the opening scenes of series three – and he’s not wrong.
For while viewers watched on tenterhooks as he wooed Grace with home-baked sausage rolls, theirs is far from the only relationship on screen.
After plucking up the courage to ask her on a date, prim and proper fellow probationer Tommy (Nathan Braniff)is now living with newcomer Aisling
(Dearbhaile McKinney), while mouthy recruit Annie (Katherine Devlin) and hunky officer Shane (Frank Blake) are circling round each other again. And it’s not just romantic relationships the Blue Lights writers have nailed so convincingly.
Annie’s soft, sensitive side is shown in her tenderness towards her ailing mother, while Jen Robinson (Hannah McClean), daughter of the boss, sheds her silver spoon reputation in series two as a solicitor seeking justice for a traumatised old man.
Even the criminals put family first: John Lynch, the actor best known for starring opposite Helen Mirren in Cal and as Gwyneth Paltrow’s cheating boyfriend Gerry in Sliding Doors, had a star turn in series two as James McIntyre, head of a terrorist dynasty.
The tense dynamics between him, his headstrong wife and wayward son made for gripping TV.
AUTHENTICALLY DESIGNED COSTUMES
Kitting out a cast of identically-dressed police officers might not sound like much, but organising costumes on Blue Lights is a mammoth task. All the uniforms have to be hired and matched perfectly to the character’s rank, and no detail is left out.
Each has authentic stab vests, radios, batons and replica guns (unlike officers in the rest of the UK, those in Northern Ireland carry handguns).
Maggie Donnelly, head of costume, makes each main character a mood board that visually depicts ‘what they wear, their colour palette and what they feel comfortable wearing’.
She gets an early copy of the script and reads it several times to establish a character’s off-duty persona, as well as factoring in whether they have to do any stunts which might require replica costumes.
LOCATIONS WITH ACTUAL CRIME LINKS
Every scene is shot on location in Northern Ireland – from National Trust sites to housing estates and even a local university car park, which doubles as the long queue into custody.
Blackthorn, the fictional police station where Grace, Stevie, Tommy, Annie and their colleagues work, is based at Netherleigh House in east Belfast, which formerly housed the city’s Department for the Economy.
The 200-strong crew took over the entire building, knocking down walls and rebuilding them so cameras could follow characters down corridors and immerse viewers in the action.
Not all locations are quite so easy to secure, however.
The marching band scene in series two was filmed in Tullycarnet, a Belfast housing estate where tensions continue to run high between residents and the police in real life.
Before filming could commence, local politicians addressed the community and convinced them to let it go ahead.
‘The Loyal Pub’, which forms the epicentre of criminal activity in series two, is a real east Belfast pub called The Cock & Hen.
The production company paid the owners to close it to the public for several weeks during filming. The pub even had had its own brush with the police: in 2018, it was raided by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force – a reminder of just how closely Blue Lights resembles real life events.
DRIVING IN UNMARKED CARS
Though the Troubles officially ended in Northern Ireland in 1998, sectarian violence – and mistrust of the police – still mars some parts of the country; something the creators have to be mindful of.
‘It’s really important to show both sides of the city – it still has its problems and its challenges,’ Lawn says.
When driving around Belfast with their police adviser scouting locations, they have to keep a low profile.
The car has to be inconspicuous – an SUV is preferred, insiders say, over a Vauxhall or a Skoda, which could be easily flagged as an unmarked police car – so as not to draw unwanted attention.
In certain parts of the city, remnants of police hostility are still visible, something the camera crews use to their advantage.
On-screen graffiti reading ‘All cops are b******s’ and ‘Police f*** off’ is genuine, spray-painted on walls in the rougher parts of the capital city.
In a poignant reminder of the dangers that still lurk in Belfast, the first series of Blue Lights came out just weeks after the attempted murder of DCI John Caldwell, an off-duty police officer, who was shot in front of his son outside a leisure centre in nearby Omagh where he had been coaching a youth football team.
Caldwell suffered serious injuries but survived – and series creator Patterson paid tribute to him at the Blue Lights premiere, saying the attack was ‘a reminder as to why the show is so important’.
FENDING OFF FANS DURING FILMING
Filming for each series takes place over 18 weeks, during which the cast live on location.
‘We do the first three episodes, then have a week off to regroup before doing the final three,’ Lawn explains. ‘Around 50 per cent of filming takes place inside the police station.’
As the show has become bigger, however, the cast now draw huge crowds – whether working or on a rare night off together.
‘They get a lot of attention, which is lovely but it does mean the scenes can get very busy,’ Lawn says.
‘Word spreads quickly about where we are and, even if you’ve got cordons up, people want to get a look at the action.
‘Such was the excitement around filming the most recent series that one fan collapsed by the side of the road.’
It turned out he was having a heart attack and two extras, dressed in police uniform, gave him CPR until paramedics arrived. Thanks to their quick-thinking, the man survived.
THE MURKY WORLD OF ORGANISED CRIME
Series three takes Blue Lights into the world of organised crime and the shady underworld of drugs gangs.
Viewers will see Grace, Stevie and co inadvertently take on a group of gangsters who have invented a delivery app for premium-grade cocaine.
As well as familiar faces, there are several new characters, including Cathy Tyson (who plays Dana Morgan, the owner of a new swanky members’ club) and Northern Irish comedian Michael Smiley (Paul ‘Colly’ Collins, a returning police veteran who stirs things up).
The ghost of Gerry still haunts the station, and eagle-eyed viewers will spot a plaque to him in the entrance, which reads: ‘In memory of Constable Gerry Cliff, 1969 – 2023.’
The writers say there will also be some long-awaited answers about why they killed off a much-loved character so early.
‘As the show goes on, we answer questions about why Gerry died,’ Patterson has revealed. ‘Trust us, by the end, it’ll all make sense.’
But there may be some time to wait. Series four, due to be filmed in the New Year, is currently being written and won’t be on our screens until next autumn.