THERE MAY BE TROUBLES AHEAD...

Gritty Belfast police drama Blue Lights has been hailed the 'natural successor' to Line of Duty. Ahead of its long-awaited third series, cast and creators reveal the key to its success

- By Emmanuella Ngimbi

WHEN Belfast police series Blue Lights won best drama at this year's BAFTAs, beating critically acclaimed shows Sherwood, Supacell and Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light in the process, its co-creator Declan Lawn was gobsmacked.

Speaking at the time, the former Panorama investigative reporter said he "hadn’t anticipated the show getting that kind of recognition in its second series".

Clearly, he should have had more optimism. Even before its wildly successful sophomore season aired, the BBC One drama proved to have filled the channel's Line of Duty-shaped hole after winning over seven million viewers and being green-lit (or should that be blue-lit) for a third and fourth seasons.

Blue Lights follows passionate new recruits Grace Ellis, played by Siân Brooke, Annie Conlon (Katherine Devlin) and Tommy Foster (Nathan Braniff) as they navigate policing on the tough streets of a post-conflict Northern Ireland.

Ahead of its highly anticipated third series, Lawn has had more time to reflect on the show's popularity. Watching the response officers attending high-pressure situations against the backdrop of The Troubles and its lasting societal impact is, he reasons, one factor.

"Northern Ireland is a very unusual place to be a police officer, with unique dangers, so that allows us to write a lot of tension into the scripts because the danger for them is very real, not just in the police station, but every time they go home," he says. "That allows you to have a fairly dramatic, intense approach to the writing."