Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Siân Brooke, Katherine Devlin, Nathan Braniff, Dearbháile McKinney, Frank Blake, Martin McCann, Andi Osho, Joanne Crawford, Michael Smiley, Nicola Robinson, Neil Keery, Seamus O’ Hara, Cathy Tyson, Lorcan Cranitch, Charlie Maher, Matthew Forsythe, Abigail McGibbon, Michael Shae, Antoinette Morelli, Paula McFetridge, Brendan Quinn, Conor Mullen, Sophia Adli, Nick Dunning.

The third offering of the successful series Blue Lights is one of immediate anxiety driven drama, it is one that hammers home the constant fear of policing a city split apart by political religion, of being seen as the instrument of the state ready to do battle with anyone who dare step out of line; and perhaps it is the foreshadowing of something even more horrific to come as the once new recruits to the PSNI are given greater responsibility and accountability in their roles serving the community.

Home truths and revelations of life before the service are shown and the way they meld into shaping the present is of enormous importance, and as the team are threatened with violence and death, those old scars are what in the end keep them alive; this is especially pertinent for Siân Brooke’s character of Constable Grace Ellis who is confronted by the spectre of what might have been as one of her former charges in the children’s home admits to being on a path of destruction and no hope.

The six-part series introduces the sophisticated presence of Cathy Tyson as dubious club owner Dana Morgan, it is this hard shell of narcotic backed economy that the dangers for the team are exacerbated, intensified, and the very act of illegal subversion of justice and order is one of great insight to how law can become a very different animal in the hands of those with grudges to bear and settle.

Directed by Angela Griffin and Jack Casey, each taking shared plaudits for the series’ outstanding dramatic feel and continuality, brings the closeness of possible death at every turn to the viewer’s attention, the sheer act of bravery that some officers have to deal with just to attend their duties, knowing full well that one wrong turn, one good deed, one errant phrase out of place could seal their fate.

With excellent performances from the likes of Michael Smiley as newcomer Detective Chief Inspector Paul Collins, Dearbháile McKinney as Constable Aisling Byrne, the aforementioned Siân Brooke as the former social worker turned police officer, Martin McCann as recently promoted Acting Sergent Stephen Neill, and Joanne Crawford as Inspector Helen McNally, the series’ backbone of characters is one of stability and truth of character development and hardened resolve.

A fantastic drama, one that delves deep into the issues of policing by consent a two-tier society, one wracked still with political and religious differences.

Ian D. Hall