Ever since DD moved to NI we have been discovering a part of the UK that we knew very little about. One surprise is how safe Belfast feels, despite the obvious issues, and even though DD tells us drug use is through the roof.
We loved Blue Lights (and Hope Street and How to get to Heaven from Belfast) so this new documentary series is fascinating, even though the BBC seem to be making little effort to promote it outside NI.
For me attitudes towards the PSNI are also interesting. My (Catholic) Met Police dad had cause to work the RUC during the height of the Troubles and was not impressed. If DD is to be believed, the PSNI clearly have a way to go to gain the trust of the community but this distrust seems mixed with a certain amount of pride that the PSNI copes with challenges not found elsewhere in the UK. The documentary makers will have cherry picked, but some of the diffusing of difficult situations was impressive.
The insults were also great. Poor Nolan, being called "Yer fat Bastard" by almost everyone, including the lads who invited him up to share a crack pipe. Some truly inventive dialogue, even if some of the accents were impenetrable.