I wouldn’t blame anyone who felt they had seen more than enough cop dramas on British TV, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph – but the BBC’s latest six-part thriller is a cracker. Written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, who brought us The Salisbury Poisonings, Blue Lights doesn’t have “a duff line or an overcooked scene”.
The drama centres on three rookie constables in Belfast negotiating their more experienced colleagues on one side, the city’s criminals on the other, and dodgy intelligence officers in between. There are shocking incidents involving sectarian and drugs violence, but it isn’t relentlessly dark or political.
This cleverly observed drama has a “fresh, irreverent quality” and a wealth of well-drawn characters, agreed Carol Midgley in The Times. It doesn’t downplay the violent resistance to the police in Belfast, but the bleakness is not allowed to override the humanity.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The premise, of three greenhorns thrown into a fraught and dangerous environment, almost guarantees excitement, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. Unlike their experienced colleagues, the rookies don’t know which battles are not worth fighting – particularly Grace (Sian Brooke), an idealistic ex-social worker. Meanwhile, the earnest Tommy (Nathan Braniff) struggles to project authority, and the hard-partying Annie (Katherine Devlin) has to lie to her friends about her job. There are many tantalising threads: “What’s real, and what is a setup? What counts as courage, and what is plain stupidity?” It’s well-crafted, and often thrilling.
Where to watch: BBC iPlayer
-
Art that made the news in 2025The Explainer From a short-lived Banksy mural to an Egyptian statue dating back three millennia
-
Nine best TV shows of the yearThe Week Recommends From Adolescence to Amandaland
-
Winter holidays in the snow and sunThe Week Recommends Escape the dark, cold days with the perfect getaway
-
The best homes of the yearFeature Featuring a former helicopter engine repair workshop in Washington, D.C. and high-rise living in San Francisco
-
Critics’ choice: The year’s top 10 moviesFeature ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘It Was Just an Accident’ stand out
-
A luxury walking tour in Western AustraliaThe Week Recommends Walk through an ‘ancient forest’ and listen to the ‘gentle hushing’ of the upper canopy
-
Joanna Trollope: novelist who had a No. 1 bestseller with The Rector’s WifeIn the Spotlight Trollope found fame with intelligent novels about the dramas and dilemmas of modern women
-
Appetites now: 2025 in food trendsFeature From dining alone to matcha mania to milk’s comeback
