Created, executive produced and written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, Blue Lights, series three is set to plunge viewers into a dark world lurking beneath the surface of middle-class life in Belfast, as the collapse of the old political and criminal order has paved the way for a new era of global gangs. Watch Blue Lights series three on BBC One and iPlayer from 9 pm Monday 29 September.
Two years into their jobs as response officers, Grace, Annie and Tommy are accustomed to life under the blue lights. But their work will take them into a sinister world hidden behind the veneer of middle-class life —the world of accountants and lawyers who facilitate organised crime. The old political and criminal order has gone, and a new global gang rule Belfast, bringing danger closer to home for our officers than ever before.
Q. Blue Lights has been a massive hit. How has the reaction to the show affected you so far?
Declan: It has been both gratifying and a relief. Making a contemporary TV show set in your own backyard carries with it certain risks and responsibilities, but so far, the response in Northern Ireland has been very positive. Hopefully, that’s because our love for Belfast comes across in Blue Lights, even though we all know that as a city, it is a flawed diamond that is still in many ways coming to terms with its own history.
Q. What’s been the overall response in Belfast to the series being set and filmed there? By residents, by police?
Adam: We generally get a very warm welcome whenever we are on location in Belfast. When we have the lead actors filming, there are a lot of requests for selfies. None of us minds that in the least; it’s a privilege to have these actors and characters that people seem to connect to. Similarly, the response from the police has been very positive. The thing they say most often is that they feel the series humanises them, even though, as writers, we do our best to show the problematic sides of the organisation alongside the positives.
Q. Who and what is new in series three?
Declan: Series three looks at the professional apparatus alongside organised crime, and how paramilitaries in Belfast are often in thrall to international organised crime gangs using the territory as a stopping off point for large-scale drug smuggling. It also looks at the sexual exploitation of kids in care. These storylines are entirely fictional but informed by careful research, so they have a real authenticity.
Cathy Tyson plays Dana Morgan, a new and powerful figure on the criminal side, and her nemesis within the police is Intelligence Department cop Paul Collins (Colly), played by Michael Smiley. In saying that, many of the regular characters are back and ready for action. We hope there are quite a few gripping moments, and a few emotional ones too. In this season, our main characters go through some very difficult things.
Q. What do you bring over into series three from the previous series?
Adam: We continue to look at the vast personal pressures on police officers, which come from various places, and which only intensify as their careers go on. And of course, we’re still in Belfast, a divided city that is haunted by the past, finely balanced between progress and atavism.
Nathan Braniff as Tommy Foster in Blue Lights. BBC/Gallagher Films/Two Cities Television
What are the themes tying the third series together?
Adam: The fundamental theme of the show is the same, which is the question of how we as individuals can carve out a semblance of personal agency in a world where meaningful change seems implausible if not impossible.
Q. What new places do we visit in series 3 (e.g. private members club)? What do these add to the world of the show?
Declan: Series three looks at a different side of Belfast. Private members’ clubs where people can do as they please. Big houses with high security gates in which residents feel above the law. In many ways, it’s about white-collar criminals who consider themselves to be beyond the reach of our response officers.
Q. The characters in Blue Lights are complex, sometimes messy, especially with their relationships. What’s important to you when writing characters and their relationship dynamics?
Declan: Drama might have acts and story arc structures, but human relationships rarely do. They take one step forward, two steps back, and then half a step forward again. People are scared of commitment and of having their hearts broken, particularly as they get older. Even when we have good intentions, we make mistakes. Sometimes two people who seem destined to be together have a near miss, and sometimes people commit when they shouldn’t. There’s a lot of real human drama in all of that, and we like to delve into it.
Q. Why do you think these characters have connected with audiences so much?
Adam: It’s difficult for us to say, other than we love them (even the baddies – especially the baddies) and we spend a lot of time with them in our heads and our hearts. One possible answer is that their predicament in policing Belfast during a time of massive resource cutbacks reflects a wider feeling that we all share these days.
Many of us feel despondent right now about whether we can really do anything to change the world, or even a little bit of it. We are assailed on all sides by terrible news that we struggle to have any effect on. In our show, we examine that malaise in terms of response policing and maybe draw a few conclusions along the way.
Sian Brooke as Grace Ellis in Blue Lights. BBC/Gallagher Films/Two Cities Television
Q. Why do you think Blue Lights is different to other police dramas?
Declan: We’re not really setting out to be different or to distinguish ourselves from any other dramas. We’re just trying to faithfully get across how people in this city think, act and speak. So, if it feels different, it’s perhaps because we’re a couple of Belfast writers telling a story that’s right in front of them.
Q. How did you feel when you saw the show’s poster in Times Square?
Adam: It felt like a moment we’ll remember all of our lives. We just stood and looked at the huge billboard in silence for a bit, and then we got giddy. Immediately afterwards, we may have gone off for a strong cocktail or two, but we can neither confirm nor deny that.
Q. What did it feel like to bring a Bafta back to Belfast? What was the reaction at home?
Declan: We flew home with the BAFTA the next day, and we knew things were going to be pretty crazy when the cabin crew brought us down some champagne. Then at the airport, there was a news crew, and after that, several days of celebrating, both on the set of Blue Lights series three and elsewhere.
We both brought the BAFTA into the classrooms of our respective kids, which was probably the most fun of all. One child put her hand up and asked us if we ever write anything and think afterwards that it’s actually no good, which skilfully brought us back down to earth with a bump.
Adam: Our hope is that the BAFTA award can help draw attention to the growing TV and film industry in Belfast, which is incredibly exciting at the moment, with so many talented filmmakers making great work.
Watch Blue Lights series three on BBC One and iPlayer from 9 pm Monday 29 September.
*Interview courtesy of the BBC
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