HARD CASE TO CRACK

Rich criminals, the mob, corrupt officials—it all adds up to the toughest challenge yet for the gutsy officers on BritBox's thrilling Blue Lights

- KATE HAHN

White-knuckling it at the wheel of a police car during a chase, the usually calm Constable Grace Ellis (Siân Brooke) of the Police Service of Northern Ireland cries into her radio to the command center, "Tell me what to do!" Turning right or left at the next corner could mean life or death.

It’s one of the heart-pounding Season 3 scenes TV GUIDE MAGAZINE observed on the Belfast set of Brit-Box's Blue Lights. The gritty, acclaimed police drama in the vein of The Wire won a 2025 BAFTA, the British equivalent of the Emmy, for best drama and has been renewed for a fourth season. (New episodes drop through December 18.)

“Grace can’t help but stand up for the right thing,” Brooke told us later in the storeroom of a pub, one of the real-life locations the series uses instead of soundstages. That's just one way Blue Lights keeps things authentic. Much of the story is in the cast’s bones. Brooke’s dad was a police officer. “I saw the person underneath the uniform. I think that’s why people enjoy the show. It shows the human side of this job.”