Set in Northern Ireland, this police drama is a genuine sleeper that deserves the wide acclaim it’s earned over two seasons (with two more on the way).
In one of the best cop show scenes of the year, from the BBC’s gripping Northern Ireland-set dramaA man’s husband has died from terminal cancer. His pain medication is missing. It quickly becomes clear to the attending officers that this grieving man is responsible. Their faces are a mixture of empathy and trepidation, as they realise the letter of the law means they have to bring him in.Blue LightsNo guns are drawn and the man’s rights are reluctantly read.
Tommy is sweet and naive and can’t shoot straight, Annie is a natural-born rebel with an impulsive streak that gets her into trouble more often than not, and Grace is a 41-year-old single mum in the middle of a career change from social work. She wants to help people more than people want her help.The first season laid the groundwork for the show’s social and political complexity.
The current second season, which takes place a year into the job, builds on that foundation like all good sophomore seasons should: digging deeper into that context and fleshing out both the main characters’ depth and the extended cast’s breadth. There’s a little less time spent on policing procedures and a little more soapiness.
It might be a police drama with big themes, but it’s still a police drama – one not lacking in car chases, kneecappings and bomb threats, written and directed to maximise the white-knuckle tension of frontline policing in a powder-keg community.Blue Lights scenes that stay with you are the quiet moments of connection in between. Tommy learning the ropes – and Johnny Cash tunes– from Gerry , his older, wiser mentor; patrol partners Grace and Stevie killing time in the car, taking turns picking songs and sharing lunch. The characters are so well drawn that when they’re thrust into any sort of tension, you want them – no, you need them – to be OK.in on SBS, Thursday, 10.
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