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BLUE LIGHTS. BBC 1. MONDAY 9pm. TV PACE NO SPOILERS

272 replies

Blondeshavemorefun · 20/03/2023 20:48

New police drama. 6 episodes. Shown weekly. Sure all will be on iPlayer (blondes yawns and sighs) but this will be tv paced and weekly and no bingeing !!!

Blue Lights on BBC1 follows three rookie cops trying to fight crime and navigate the tricky politics of Belfast.

Blue Lights follows Grace, played by Siân Brooke, who is mum to a teenage boy. In her 40s, she’s decided to leave her stable job as a social worker to join the police force.

It’s the biggest gamble of her life, especially as she finds herself making countless mistakes in her first few weeks on the job. Joining her are fellow rookies Annie (Katherine Devlin), who must leave behind everything she’s ever known to follow her dream, and Tommy (Nathan Braniff) who is desperate to prove himself despite being seriously inept when it comes to frontline policing.

The odds are at least one of them will fail the probation period and, to make matters worse, just being a cop in Belfast is a dangerous business.

Siân Brooke, Katherine Devlin, and Nathan Braniff as new recruits to the police force. All three are in the probation period with the PSNI, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and must deal with immense pressure in order to make it. Added to that, they must navigate the complexities of being police officers in Belfast, which means they sometimes have to hide their true selves from those closest to them.

The trio must work out whom they can trust and who wants them dead simply because of the uniform they are wearing. "I am so thrilled to be playing Grace in Blue Lights," says Siân Brooke. "There is something incredibly special about the scripts and I was hooked from the very first page. Belfast is the beating heart of this piece and it’s a city I’ve been wanting to work in for a long time."

OP posts:
LadyEloise1 · 02/05/2023 09:00

It was a great series. Gritty but with lighter touches too.
Gerry Sad
Glad there'll be a second series.
I felt a few of loose ends though were tied up a bit too neatly.
Did anyone else think the gathering at the Police Station when James and Mo Mc Intyre were brought in was a bit ott ?
Gerry's widow being the Custody Sergeant on duty. It really heightened the dramatic effect but would that happen ?
Call me a cynic but would criminals in real life get their come uppance like that ?
So Mc Intyre's wife is now a tout - business as usual. God, she was cold.
What happened Grace's son ?
The reality of policing, how tough it is, was really brought home to me with this series, did anyone else find the same ?

OneFrenchEgg · 02/05/2023 09:04

Yeah I thought it was a bit odd. Would his wife be the person booking them in? Especially as only one of them was being charged in relation to it.

Blossomtoes · 02/05/2023 10:57

I loved it. Fuck realism, I don’t care when it’s a drama as brilliant as that. Sandra’s dignity and professionalism was beyond moving. The characters and their relationships, the dialogue, the raw emotion were all so well written and acted. It’s one of the best TV dramas I’ve seen in a long time, right up there with Happy Valley.

LadyEloise1 · 02/05/2023 10:59

@Blossomtoes I do agree with you that it was brilliant.
I do hope it gets the recognition it deserves.
Great acting and a great script.

MeinKraft · 02/05/2023 11:57

'Did anyone else think the gathering at the Police Station when James and Mo Mc Intyre were brought in was a bit ott ?'

It was but I suppose they had to use a bit of artistic license to show the significance of the McIntyres arrest. These were not only people who were involved in murdering one of their own colleagues, but had been putting countless others through harrowing experiences - the punishment shootings, the drug deaths, assaults on police, all of that and more for decades.

uhtredbebbanburg · 02/05/2023 12:12

I’m back now after binging. I’m so mad about Gerry! There were two coppers I wouldn’t have minded dying (Jen and jonty). It would have been a good storyline for Jen’s mum to come to terms with the consequences of making her daughter work in a job she hated. But not Gerry 😡. I thought he might survive because he was alive for a bit. And I think Sandra volunteered to book the drug lord and son. I was so happy when those scum bags were arrested. Looking forward to season 2! Maybe Cal will go elsewhere to uni and come home again and find his place. I did, I’m mixed race too.

TooOldForThisNonsense · 02/05/2023 13:41

Great series! Binged it a couple of weeks ago.

Gothambutnotahamster · 02/05/2023 19:36

OneFrenchEgg · 02/05/2023 09:04

Yeah I thought it was a bit odd. Would his wife be the person booking them in? Especially as only one of them was being charged in relation to it.

I thought they were all being charged - Joint Enterprise?

OneFrenchEgg · 02/05/2023 19:45

First bloke wasn't. He didn't know did he - they did it behind his back

diddl · 02/05/2023 19:57

OneFrenchEgg · 02/05/2023 19:45

First bloke wasn't. He didn't know did he - they did it behind his back

I thought that he was charged with JE?

I think he thought that he & his son would get away but Gerry's murder meant that any prior agreements were off?

OneFrenchEgg · 02/05/2023 20:07

@diddl nope James McIntyre was booked in for:

Money laundering
Conspiracy to supply Class A drugs
Participating in activities of organised crime

Starts 45:40

Leftbutcameback · 02/05/2023 20:13

The dad knew about the deal being done, but it was behind his back and he wasn’t there. So no joint enterprise charge for him. There would have been others though - the gang from Dublin

diddl · 02/05/2023 20:19

Yes I was misremembering.

Can't remember who else was charged with JE!

Some guy with a young family?

Gothambutnotahamster · 02/05/2023 20:50

Was it not also the big bald bloke?

OneFrenchEgg · 02/05/2023 20:58

Yes -

Dark haired man shot dead
Gordie (?) - in witness protection with mum
Other son - arrested
Bald man with kids - arrested

DownNative · 02/05/2023 22:24

LadyEloise1 · 25/04/2023 16:02

Weren't some of Happy's family blown up in a fish shop blast, with Happy and Gerry waiting nearby ?
What side were responsible for the blast ?
If the IRA, both Happy and Gerry would be very conscious of the implications of a southern ( Republic of Ireland ) registered car being in a Loyalist particular area.

I have experienced getting lost in Belfast in a Southern registered car back in the day. Scary. Dad couldn't drive out fast enough.

That would have been based on the real life bombing of Frizzell's fish and chip shop on the Shankill Road, Belfast. Nine innocent people lost their lives that day on 23rd October 1993.

It was a bomb by the PIRA. One of the bombers, Begley, died when the bomb went off prematurely. The other, Sean Kelly, survived and remains a controversial person to this day on the Shankill - Kelly has no shame as he takes tourists on Troubles Tours in North Belfast, including the Shankill. The tourists would be oblivious to the fact he was the Shankill bomber and convicted of it.

Anyway, the chip shop bomb in Blue Lights was based on that.

One of the writers' father was in the prison service and they also had to watch out for PIRA and INLA attacks.

So, the two co-writers would make reference to various Troubles events, some only a Belfast person would immediately pick up on.

Blondeshavemorefun · 03/05/2023 20:18

Avoided thread till now as only just watched

I held my breath in, clutching straws - I had Hope Gerry had made it even tho knew he kinda hadn't due to previous spoiler 😡😡😡

Sandra was dignified and almost therapy for her booking her hubbys killer

So the wife takes over her hubbys roles

Glad kiddy got away but wouidnt be suprised if he got killed in s2 for being a grass

OP posts:
LadyEloise1 · 06/05/2023 20:31

One of the writing duo who wrote Blue Lights, Declan Lawn was interviewed on Ryan Tubridy's radio show on RTE1 radio.
Well worth a Google.
Sorry I can't do links.

Mirabai · 10/05/2023 21:03

To posters who actually live in Belfast are there really that many mainlanders in your police force?

MeinKraft · 11/05/2023 11:46

There are lots of English people living here yes.

Mirabai · 11/05/2023 12:21

I know, but how many on the police force is my question.

DownNative · 11/05/2023 12:36

Mirabai · 11/05/2023 12:21

I know, but how many on the police force is my question.

Those figures are not publicly available - I've looked. You likely have to do a FOI request which is how we know how many are in various organisations that have to be notified.

But there will be some Scottish and northern English officers in the PSNI. We've always had those pre-PSNI.

DigbyTheDigger · 24/05/2023 15:48

Hello notebook wankers, we can vote for BL at the NTA awards, in the New Drama and Drama Performance categories. https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote/category/new-drama

Vote | National Television Awards

Choose your winners in this year’s National Television Awards

https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote/category/new-drama

Blondeshavemorefun · 24/05/2023 21:38

Oh tricky tho as lots of good things in that list

OP posts:
MeinKraft · 24/05/2023 22:36

DigbyTheDigger · 24/05/2023 15:48

Hello notebook wankers, we can vote for BL at the NTA awards, in the New Drama and Drama Performance categories. https://www.nationaltvawards.com/vote/category/new-drama

Thanks, I enjoyed doing my votes!