‘Blue Lights’ by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson

12 December 2025

I’m a big fan of ‘Blue Lights’ - the brilliant BBC TV police drama by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson which is set in present-day Belfast. The first series of this show which follows a response team of rookie police officers in a Belfast station focussed on events in a republican community in West Belfast. Series two was set in a loyalist community in East Belfast and series three, which I have just finished watching, turns to leafy South Belfast. I’m guessing I know where series four will be set: I just hope that’s not the end of the story. ‘Blue Lights’ is a police procedural that makes you genuinely care for the individual police officers, and sympathise with the impossibility of their jobs. It’s also incredibly tense. I was watching an episode of the latest series on a flight to Dublin a few weeks ago and realised part-way through that I was holding my fingers in front of my face and peeking through the gaps. Some scenes are impossible to watch but completely unmissable. The show paints a realistic picture of contemporary Northern Ireland - and has a great soundtrack featuring some wonderful new local music. I realised quite early in series one that ‘Blue Lights’ is essentially a modern Belfast version of the classic 1980s American cop series ‘Hill Street Blues’ - and that only made me like it more. All three series of 'Blue Lights' are available on BBC iPlayer.