Blue Lights

Much of the first episode had me shaking my head at the seemingly over-the-top stupidity and incompetence of the show's newbie cops. Just another show with tons of frustrating idiot-factor lathered on, I figured.

But then a nice thing happened. The plot lines thickened. The characters assumed nuance and complexity. Every actor came through in spades. And each episode from then on just got better. Until, at the end, I was rooting for every single player on the show. That can only happen when there's outstanding character development; so thank you, writers, actors, directors, for providing me with several hours of very high quality entertainment. Bravo.

With the seemingly endless choice of things to watch it's seems to have become the norm to have a list of unfinished series. This won't be one of them. Excellently written drama and very well acted. The story threads, characters and their relationships will soon have you on invested in this series.

I can't say that i was familiar will most of the actors in this series. But for me this only helped to make it seem fresh. It deals with gritty and unpleasant subject matters. But the acting and chemistry between the cast draws you in. There are of course lighter moments to keep the series moving along nicely. I would highly recommend watching.

Being from, lived, experienced and witnessed the worst of NI through the troubles., I have just finished watching the complete six episodes of Blue Lights. And contrary to some other reviewers on this page I enjoyed the drama and laughed at the ni humour throughout this series. Naturally, it is a tv series and I suppose you have to allow for a certain amount of 'artistic licence' in these type of programmes. But I have to say the sequence of events on the drugs/gun running and or 'sneaky beakers' is very much a realistic story that occurred quite often in the quest for law and order in our we country N. I. I have to single out the character PC Gerry Cliff played by the excellent actor Richard Dormer. I do hope there is a second series to follow.

I live in Belfast and I was born in London. I found this drama to be believable and most of the characters very easy to identify with. Love watching things that are filmed in Belfast too as it's such a great city... most of the Northern Irish people I know can't stand to hear their accents on the TV! I personally love it.

I enjoyed the dynamic of the new recruits - even some of the longer serving officer's stories which were a little cliched but can be forgiven because life is often the same...

Absolutely LOVED the character of Gerry and his warmth with the younger officers also.

Definitely worth a watch if you liked Line of Duty et al.

Series 1 : I'll start with a caveat. It's a drama not a documentary. If you made a police drama that reflected the real pace of things you'd soon get bored watching 90% same old mundane or hurry up and wait. Therefore some poetic licence and speeding up is required and the trick , that this series manages magnificently , is not to let that detract too much from the attempts at realism. Keeping that in mind this has the lot. Not all cops are heroes (though many are very much so ) , not all baddies are as they seem, some in authority or in responsible roles are far too far up their own whatever and some are simply stupid. There's fair amoint of of politics but balanced by lots of willingness backed up by humour be it dark or comic. It's a gritty drama well written directrd and acted that ranges from making you laugh through to holding back the tears. Most of the characters or type of characters are identifiable and are out there, maybe not all together at the same time but they're there.

Surely that's what it's all about and something many armchair critics who learn about police work from shall we say , less competent police dramas , miss entirely.

Series 2: All the above still applies . Its as easy as that . The original cast plus some great additions carry along the slightly different approach. That slightly different style is the excellent way they've slipped in a few more looks at the local residents behaviour (no spoilers), interactions with the "peelers" and the consequences. The behaviour , comments and attitude of the cops remain well researched , advised and well played, still subject to a bit of artistic licence but that keeps it going . All the unpredictable plots and sub plots keep you wondering whats going to happen next and are you watching a baddy , a hero or an anti hero . Thats what its all about and as a result it remains a fantastic series and I wish I could give it more than 10.