The critically acclaimed Belfast police drama Blue Lights has secured a prestigious spot as the fifth best television show of 2025, according to a major annual ranking. Launched in 2023, the BBC series created by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson continues to distinguish itself by subverting the classic tropes of the police procedural genre.
A Thriller Where Following the Rules Creates the Tension
Unlike most police dramas, where rogue officers break protocol to crack the case, Blue Lights derives its power from its characters' strict adherence to procedure. In this world, maverick actions have severe consequences. Probationer Shane, played by Frank Blake, jeopardises his career through unorthodox evidence gathering. When PC Aisling, portrayed by Dearbháile McKinney, makes an arrest during an unofficial visit to a suspect, she faces suspension rather than praise.
This procedural rigidity is the show's primary source of suspense. A standout moment in the third season's fifth episode features a nerve-shredding cliffhanger where a suspect convoy is ambushed. The terror stems from the officers' powerlessness; Grace, played by Siân Brooke, panics and pleads for instructions over the radio, unable to perform a miraculous, solo rescue typical of lesser shows.
Mining the Long Shadow of the Troubles for Narrative Force
Blue Lights carries significant historical weight, set against the lingering aftermath of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The series convincingly portrays a world where officers still check their vehicles for bombs and where the transition from political conflict to organised crime fuels the local cocaine trade. Intelligence officer 'Colly' Collins, played by Michael Smiley, reflects sardonically on the clearer moral lines of the past, highlighting how modern criminal gangs are more volatile and less predictable than the old paramilitary groups.
This complex backdrop makes maverick police work not just irresponsible, but potentially fatal. The drama explores the trauma experienced by normal officers—the 'Peelers' of Blackthorn station—as they navigate this impossible landscape. Their personal lives, with tequila parties and Westlife fandom, starkly contrast with their professional reality of severed arteries, teenage runaways, and painful political compromises.
Granite-Hard Realism Punctuated by Earned Sentiment
The show's brutal realism makes its moments of soft sentiment feel genuinely earned. A poignant scene where Tommy (Nathan Braniff) and Sandra (Andi Osho) listen to an elderly man with dementia play a Kris Kristofferson song for a fallen colleague is incredibly moving. It resonates deeply because the series never shies away from the harsh truths surrounding it, including the anguish of watching a murderer walk free due to unseen deals.
Critics have struggled to find direct comparisons for Blue Lights. It shares the intense precision of Line of Duty and the ensemble workplace dynamics of Hill Street Blues. However, its ambitious, systemic portrait of a city—Belfast—and the people operating within its dysfunctional structures has increasingly drawn comparisons to HBO's seminal series, The Wire. Like that classic, Blue Lights understands that in its world, all the pieces matter.
