The return of the thin blue line

Petrol bombs, rioters, organised crime... and young cops trying to survive on Belfast’s mean streets...

It didn’t sound like a sure-fire winner – yet another police drama, with a largely unknown cast, set in post-Troubles Belfast.

But Blue Lights was sparky, gripping and deservedly became a word-of-mouth hit last year, and now it’s back.

It follows three young recruits in the Police Service of Northern Ireland trying to cope with intimidation, stress and a constant threat of violence. They’re not just dealing with the menace of crime gangs, but also have to dance around undercover government agents with a secret agenda.

What the show does so well is to suddenly crank up the tension. It also has engaging characters that you actually care about, including a line-up of strong women.

And it feels authentic. It’s filmed in Belfast and written by former journalists Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, who come from the city.

They both used to work for the BBC’s Panorama and also wrote the docu-drama The Salisbury Poisonings.

Sian Brooke leads an impressive ensemble cast as the older of the probationary police officers, Grace, an idealistic ex-social worker. She’s still sharing banter and home-baked goods with her pragmatic partner Stevie (Martin McCann) in their patrol car, though whether the relationship will go beyond that is unclear.

The other two rookie cops are Annie (Katherine Devlin, above, centre), who faces death threats as a Catholic working for the police, and nerdy Tommy (Nathan Braniff, above, left), who has come fresh from completing a criminology degree.

A year on from the first series, they are joined by a maverick new colleague, Shane (Frank Blake, above, right), who has mysteriously appeared as if from nowhere.

Their work load remains relentless. Tensions are high in the city again thanks to a violent feud between two Loyalist gang leaders running rival drug empires and protection rackets, while a third player is plotting to usurp them.

An exciting opening set-piece with rioters throwing petrol bombs cleverly gets a Belfast police-drama cliche out of the way, and after that the series starts in melancholy mood. Most of the cast are back, but there’s one notable absentee (if you don’t know who, all six episodes of the first run, including its explosive and tearful finale, are on BBC iPlayer).

One baddie, surprisingly, does survive from the first series, and watch out, too, for a guest star with a familiar face in episode two. It’s Derek Thompson, who just finished playing nurse Charlie in Casualty after 38 years.

He’s returning to his Belfast roots and clearly has an eye for a show with legs – Blue Lights has already been commissioned for a third and a fourth series.