BritBox Hit Blue Lights
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Have you seen the new hit drama “Blue Lights” on BritBox?
It’s a police procedural series set in the fictional Blackthorn police station in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the series was filmed.
“Blue Lights” is a gripping drama about ordinary people doing an extraordinary job.
The series follows three rookie police officers working in Belfast, described as “a uniquely dangerous place to be a police officer.”
If you were a fan of “Line Of Duty”, then you’ll probably enjoy watching “Blue Lights.” I quickly became enamored of it, and just finished watching the second season.
Director of Drama at the BBC, Lindsay Salt, said: “Blue Lights has been a breakout hit and so many of our viewers have taken the rookies to their hearts, which is down to the fantastic cast and Declan and Adam’s vision. We can’t wait to have it back on BBC One and iPlayer for a second series.”
And so they did. Now I can’t wait for the third season.
Before series two had even landed, BBC bosses confirmed a third and fourth series of “Blue Lights.”
Rookie Officers In Belfast:
In season one, “Blue Lights” focuses on three rookies (Sian Brooke, Katherine Devlin, and Nathan Braniff) as they learn to navigate life in a very dangerous place to be a police officer.
The main character is Grace (Sian Brooke), who decides to leave her job as a social worker to join the Belfast police force. She is in her 40s, single, and mom to a teenage son.
The other two rookies are Annie (Katherine Devlin) who learns she has to leave her old life behind to begin a new one. And Tommy (Nathan Braniff), who seems horribly inept in the first season.
The three rookies are all in their probation period and the pressure is immense. But the job entails having to learn to live with that pressure every time they hit the streets.
The uniform is hated and every time they go out on a call, they don’t know if someone needs their help or wants them dead.
Series 1 & 2:
Series one of “Blue Lights” began airing on March 27, 2023, with episodes every Monday night for six weeks.
And Series two began airing in April 2024, with the series starting on Monday, April 15, 2024.
“Blue Lights” obviously touched a chord in a great deal of viewers to be renewed for a second, third, and fourth season straight out of the gate.
I wondered why, if the theme of the show was accurate, why police officers were held in such low regard in Belfast. Then I read about The Good Friday Agreement.
The Good Friday Agreement:
The Good Friday Agreement, also know as the Belfast agreement, was signed on April 10, 1998.
This agreement was designed to bring an end to 30 years of conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles. They were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland.
The threat to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism is labeled as substantial.
MI5 has lowered the Northern Ireland-related terrorism threat level from “SEVERE”, meaning an attack is highly likely to “SUBSTANTIAL”, meaning an attack is likely. The decision to change the threat level was taken by MI5, independently of Ministers.
BritBox.com Leaves The US:
As I was researching this, I learned that you can no longer get a stand-alone subscription to BritBox. This was the first I’d heard of it. But I get my BritBox subscription through Amazon Prime.
BritBox as a stand-alone subscription service apparently ended April 2024. The move comes as part of ITV’s plans to streamline its services. However, BritBox has a new home on ITVX.
If you subscribe to BritBox via Amazon, you won’t be able to log in using your Amazon account at BritBox.com. You’ll only be able to watch it through Amazon.
The Blue Lights’ Series Creators:
The BritBox hit “Blue Lights” was co-created and written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson.
When Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson were first approached about creating a cop show set in Belfast, they were a bit ambivalent.
Both writers grew up in Northern Ireland, live in Belfast, and are familiar with the violence of the region.
They worried that a show about the city’s police force, which was overwhelmingly Protestant and viewed with suspicion by the Catholic community, would be too polarizing.
But they agreed to make the series after meeting with real Belfast police officers.
If “Blue Lights” sounds like “The Wire”, that’s exactly what Patterson and Lawn had in mind when creating the series.
Both men spent years traveling around the world as TV journalists. The two turned to screenwriting due to the constraints of TV journalism.
You watch some very interesting shows/series on BritBox. Thank you for sharing, Brenda.
That sounds like an interesting series. Like you said, it must be good if they authorized four seasons right away. I had no idea there was so much unrest in Ireland. I always thought it’d be a nice place to visit. I’ll look for it on Amazon.