'Grace has to confront her past'

Actress Siân Brooke on why her character is a force to be reckoned with in the new series of Blue Lights

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When Siân Brooke took her two children to the set of her Bafta-winning police drama Blue Lights, it was a proud moment. But that pride melted away when she realised her two young sons were memorising her character's X-rated language.

The actress - acclaimed for her stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company before playing Blue Lights' Constable Grace Ellis - hadn't realised she'd be filming her most explicit and violent scenes on the same day that 12-year-old Ben and 10-year-old Archie visited the set.

She recalls, "I had this big fat gun in my hand. I was shouting obscenities and swear words and my youngest afterwards was absolutely saying to me, 'I heard you say that! That means I can say it now.'"

Series three of the BBC hit finds Grace in a tricky position, as past secrets start to come to light and threaten to interfere with her police work. "What I love about her is this determination and defiance to try to bring around change," says Siân, 45.