Back with a bang
AS ACCLAIMED BELFAST POLICE DRAMA BLUE LIGHTS RETURNS, RACHAEL DAVIS HEARS FROM STARS SIAN BROOKE, KATHERINE DEVLIN AND NATHAN BRANIFF
BLUE LIGHTS Monday, BBC1, 9pm
WHEN series one of Blue Lights landed in 2023, it was immediately obvious that it was not your typical police show.
Set in Belfast, Blue Lights follows three new recruits to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, including youngsters Annie and Tommy and 40-something mum Grace, who has transferred from social services to policing.
It took stock of the incredibly complex world of policing in Belfast, a city still living in the shadow of the Troubles and with communities divided by sectarianism, along with complex character drama and thrilling action scenes, making it one of the most exciting shows of the year.
The response was such that, when series two began filming in Belfast last year, the sight of camera crews and police uniforms throughout the city caused quite a fuss, with excited crowds gathering to see the cast at work.
“Everywhere we went, we definitely had a warm welcome, it was great,” smiles Nathan Braniff, who plays Constable Tommy Foster.
“We got a lot of people coming up this time around throughout Belfast, because they’ve seen the cameras and they’ve seen the police uniforms and sort of put two and two together that it was Blue Lights.
“It was nice having people coming up and being so positive.”
As Blue Lights returns for its highly anticipated second series, having already been renewed for a further two, so does its cast of breakout stars and familiar faces.
They include Good Omens’ and Sherlock actress Sian Brooke, who plays probationer and former social worker Constable Grace Ellis; Katherine Devlin as Constable Annie Conlon, a Catholic probationer, and, of course, Nathan as fast-track probationer, Tommy.
“Now we know who these characters are, we dig deeper into their lives and understand why they react in certain situations,” teases Sian of the developments in series two.
“The world that (writers) Declan (Lawn) and Adam (Patterson) have created has expanded even more and you begin to understand the complexities of the crimes the characters are encountering in their day-to-day jobs.
“We also see the ripple effect of what happened in the first series on all of the characters, and how it impacts them as a unit.”
Each of the protagonists is facing new challenges, trying to strike a balance between their work and personal lives.
“A year has passed, so she’s no longer a recruit,” says Sian, 44, of where we meet Grace in this series.
“She’s much more experienced in the job, but her home life has turned upside down. We see her whole foundation has been rocked by not having (son) Cal at home with her
anymore – she is a little at sea, and I like the fact that we portray empty nest syndrome .... I don’t think it’s explored enough on television, but it’s a tangible thing that happens to parents, and they go through a grieving process of sorts.”
“This time round we find Annie sharing a flat with Grace,” adds Katherine Devlin, who plays Annie.
“Theirs is quite a sisterly relationship, but equally, they’re aware of each other’s insecurities and flaws.
“Grace has been there for Annie in the past, and Annie definitely shows her vulnerabilities when she’s with Grace.
“They make a good team, and while the death threat is still present in Annie’s life we do see her unfold a bit more and be less constrained - she definitely has more freedom.”
Tommy is still reeling from the events of series one, Nathan says, but throughout the second series we see him developing as a copper.
“I mean, he’s definitely changed,” says the Belfast-born actor.
“He’s had to grow up a little, pull up his socks... Obviously Tommy went through something super difficult at the end of the first series, and I think that’s had a massive effect on him, and that will stay with him for the rest of his policing career.
“It showed him how savage, in a way, this job can be, how difficult it can be...
“I think you see a much more mature Tommy, but again, we haven’t lost those little things about Tommy that make him him.”
This second series will, Sian reveals, bring some high stakes action for the constables. Her character Grace gets caught up in a “serious incident”, one which “involves her pulling out her gun”, which led the actress to spend time with a police adviser to try to understand “what that does to you as a police officer and as a human being”.
“You have to come to terms with the fact that you are prepared to take a life in order to save someone else from harm, and it really does alter how you feel after that,” she says.
The way in which Blue Lights tackles the reality of police work in Belfast is part of what made the first series so acclaimed. It’s also something that its cast, many of whom are Northern Irish, appreciate.
“The policing job in Northern Ireland, I think, is especially difficult, having gone through what they’ve gone through in the past 30 or 45 years,” Nathan says.
“They have an incredibly difficult job, and you want to pay respect to that... you’re sort of carrying the flag, almost, a little bit, for the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland).
“To make sure that I was doing that appropriately, meant doing lots and lots of research again, for the second series, spending some time with police officers. We actually even did a little police boot camp for the read-through of this second series.”
Nathan continues: “There’s no doubt that Northern Ireland police have a very specific job, because of where they’re operating.
“Unlike the other sort of day-today police in the rest of the UK, they have to carry a sidearm.
“We’re trying to put the spotlight on the police of Northern Ireland, because they deserve it.
“They do a great job.”
It is this “authenticity at the heart of the show” that makes it so gripping, Katherine agrees.
“We see time and time again when a show is unapologetic and real, audiences really engage with it,” she says.
“It’s a drama with really beautifully crafted characters at its heart, and it doesn’t spoon-feed the audience, which is so important.”
“It will be quite explosive, moving and an authentic reflection of some parts of present-day Belfast,” Sian adds of Blue Lights’ return.
“But audiences can still expect those comedy beats alongside the serious side of the story.”
■ Series two of Blue Lights will be available in full on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Monday April 15