Blue Lights viewers hail return of ‘one of the best police series in modern TV’

BBC viewers have heaped praise on the new series of the police drama Blue Lights.

The series stars Siân Brooke, Katherine Devlin and Nathan Braniff as three probationary officers in a Belfast police department. Its first season debuted on BBC One in 2023.

Reviewing its second season for The Independent, critic Nick Hilton wrote: “Where Line of Duty was set in some consciously anonymous metropolis – a sort of nightmare vision of life in Midlands suburbia – Blue Lights is deeply invested in a sense of place.

“Belfast, and Northern Ireland, loom as characters in Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson’s vision. It is a city still wrenched by division, where marching bands come out in funeral processions, and where the ghost of the late-20th century still lurks.”

On social media, fans shared their appreciation for the new episodes, with many comparing it favourably to the BBC’s crime hit Line of Duty.

“Blue Lights will go down as one of the best police series in modern TV. The series is not political. This is the reality of policing in Northern Ireland and how the troubles have affected the citizens. Being a police officer in NI is dangerous and crime is very high,” one person argued.

“Blue Lights is back and it's good, definitely one of the best police programmes to be produced in a while,” another agreed.

“So excited for Blue Lights return tonight. Brilliant actors, wonderful setting, super script & storylines. Recently rewatched the first series which confirmed my view that it’s the best drama for years. Reminds me of how I felt watching the initial outing of Line of Duty,” someone else remarked.

The series is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

In a new interview with The Independent, series star Brooke explained why she signed onto the project.

“I just fell in love with the writing,” she said. “It was so clever and accessible. You often assume people in uniform know exactly what they’re doing, that this couldn’t possibly be their first day on the job.

“Because Blue Lights is centred around three rookies [Grace, Katherine Devlin’s Annie and Nathan Braniff’s Tommy], audiences go on the journey with them rather than feel removed from it.”