Blue Lights - BBC1 - started 27 March 2023 - binge watch spoiler thread

[IwantToRetire]

New police drama set in Northern Ireland is shown on monday 9pm slot.

Also available on BBC iPlayer.

Most newspaper reviews are raving about it, except for one.

Written by the same people who wrote The Salisbury Poisonings.

They first met as local journalists in Belfast.

Grey series, Gerry was an absolutely brilliant character. There are real life Gerry's out there in the world of policing, I am lucky to have worked alongside some of them. Albeit they are getting less and less these days....

Yes . I know . I said psni not Garda .

I've done the job a long time and worked with ex psni cops .

The job is hard enough in mainland .
Psni is a whole new ballgame .

Wouldn't do the job in Ireland though

You said Ireland, not Northern Ireland. That would be the Garda, not PSNI, and is why I was wondering why you wouldn't do the job there

@Gothambutnotahamster I've often thought the same, it must have been a hard decision to make in those days, although I guess life goes on

We’ve just caught up with I think the last 3 episodes - we’d only planned to watch 2 but had to see what happened to poor Gerry - we’re gutted that he died, he was our favourite! I honestly didn’t expect him to, when he was still alive when he was taken to hospital. I thought they’d let him pull through.

I've thought the same @kingsleysbootlicker - life does go on no matter what!

Absolutely loved this series and am so pleased they have commissioned a second. I have to admit to a sob when Gerry died. Brilliant acting and a brilliant storyline. I only realised after I’d finished it that the horrible Dublin drug/arms dealer was the sexy priest from Derry Girls.

I've just finished and am quite emotional. How they held it together when Sandra was processing the McIntyres beats me. I was a wreck.

Loved Gerry so much.

I thought the whole thing was brilliant. Hope it runs for a fair few seasons.

Just finished this and really enjoyed it. Wont be the same without Gerry. I cried for him and Jen as they waited for help to come. She came good in the end, and didn't hesitate to step up for her colleague.

I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm not too keen on Grace and I don't want her and Stevie to get together. I think she says "whaaat?" too much

I thought it was brilliant. Realistic (as much as any cop show can be) with the added challenges of policing in NI so well observed.

Am I the only one that thinks the high ranking M15 chap was 'Gary' from only fools and horses?

Gutted that Gerry was killed off. He brought a multi layered dimension that was so relatable.

I also think the comparison of Gerry's old friend on hard times tied up poignantly with James McIntyre's later narrative about when the "war" ended and a lot of the men fell on lonely hard times and how he refused to become one of them.

It was Gary @cire

Thanks 😀

Gary also popped up on the most recent series of Unforgotten, as the doctor

Gaaaary!😁

😂

I really enjoyed this series, great characters, acting and storylines.

I haven't seen Hope Street, I didn't realise it was set in Donaghadee- will definitely watch it now. (I lived in Bangor in the early 00s).

I'm so sad they killed off Gerry - he was one of the best characters I've seen written and acted in a TV series for ages.

I've just finished it. What an excellent series. I wasn't sure through the first episode, but it turned out to be the best police drama I've seen in a while.

Gerry was a great character. Shame he got killed off.

I visited Belfast for the first time just after the recent shooting of a policeman. There was a significant police presence in the city. So, I found it even more interesting as I could recognise places and had seen the peace Wall etc.

Really enjoying this, am on episode 4, having worked in this field (not in NI) is interesting seeing how differently they have to prioritise need.
My teen wanted to watch it with me, fortunately they got bored early on, thank god as it certainly got very dark fast.
Is great seeing the older cynical cops and the young green ones, how differently they approach situations.
The social Work woman is absolutely lovely to the crims.
Great she found a new career, so many burn out altogether from social work.
irl she'd be a real loss to social services but as we see the outcome of 'austerity' and lost resources everywhere, could do with more police like her as they are ultimately the first responders to the shit created by 15+ years of cutting everything down to the bone.
Anyway, back to the programme, I went to Ireland many years ago,another lifetime and was amazed then how much power gangs had on the streets and seeing it everywhere, no go areas, etc.
Take a very brave person to be a copper there!
I'm assuming that all the attacks on the police cars and open derision shown on the programme is based in reality

Just on episode 3 but have read the spoilers anyway, really invested in the story. Opened my mind. I live in a military town in England (we aren’t military) and are used to heavy police presence at times, bomb threats are quite rare now but we had a lot when I was a kid, i remember.
We went to NI last year for the first time and didn’t at any point feel unsafe, spent a couple of days in Belfast and then drove down to the countryside - beautiful.

Sadly you’re being naive. It happens. Because the parents are scared of worse. There are also instances of people ordering the kneecapping of their own sons.

Just leaving this here...

Looks like loyalist villains this series, as many people predicted.

Looking forward to this immensely!

Thanks for sharing - really excited. This was one of the stand out shows of last year.