'Blue Lights' Season 2 Builds on Its Relevancy

The acclaimed police procedural Blue Lights launches its second season on BritBox as part of the BBC's first moves to take the already successful streaming service and hyper-fuel it with some of the British Broadcasting Corporation's high-profile critical hits. Kicking the new drive to bring in subscribers with the Belfast-based series is a savvy choice; Blue Lights is full of tension and surprises with a great cast, and it’s not afraid of tackling ambiguity and difficult subject matter. 

The series made a name for itself from the outset of its 2023 debut because it made sure to be respectful of Belfast’s past and community (there are some great cityscape shots), and the Blue Lights team is one you will root for. Moreover, the head of BBC Drama already greenlit Seasons 3 and 4, in response to the enthusiasm of viewers on both sides of the Atlantic, ensuring there's plenty more to come. 

Directed by Jack Casey, with series co-creators Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn (who also led a team of writers), Blue Lights chronicles the experiences of three rookies at the fictional Blackthorn Station in Belfast, using star Sîan Brooke as the audience's avatar into this world as the unlikeliest of cadets, a middle-aged single mother who decides to buy into the copaganda wholesale and be a hero. Always conscious of Belfast’s violent history, Blackthorn is doing its best to promote a humane face to the public, but the station simply doesn’t have the financial or staffing resources to maintain the delicate balance of justice and kindness.

A year has passed since the tumultuous climax of Season 1, and we are still following the main characters, rookies now turned sophomores Grace (Brooke), Annie (Katherine Devlin), and Tommy (Nathan Braniff). Grace is partnered with Stevie (Martin McCann) and the two of them have plenty of rapport and a sweet romance. Grace, a former social worker, struggles to reconcile empathy with police work and realizes that a reluctance to use her firearm may endanger her partner and her career. Yet, at the same time, she resents Stevie’s well-intentioned protective instincts, which make their future together uncertain, as does Stevie’s unresolved grief for his dead wife.

Tommy, formerly on a policing fast-track scheme, was devastated by the loss of his much-loved mentor Gerry Cliff (Richard Dormer) in the Season 1 climax and is on the point of dropping out. Another promising young constable, Jen Robinson (Hannah McClean), the daughter of CSI Nicola Robinson (Andrea Irvine), traumatized by those events, left to become a trainee solicitor, creating a rift between mother and daughter. In addition, Sgt. Sandra Cliff (Andi Osho), one of the unit’s most experienced and capable officers, is considering a return to London.

If religious issues are now at a low simmer, Belfast’s drug problem is reaching crisis level, with deals taking place openly all over town. Newly promoted team leader Inspector Helen McNally (Joanne Crawford) learns slick operator DS Murray Canning (Desmond Eastwood), transferred from CID to the Paramilitary Crime Taskforce (PCTF), is now on board along with PC Shane Bradley (Frank Blake). Skepticism toward outsiders brought in to solve problems is inevitable after Season 1’s discovery of British intelligence's role in the struggle against the local Republican crime family, the McIntyres. 

The action is now centered on East Belfast (the Protestant section) after Grace and Stevie are called to a park where Ian “Soupy” Campbell has died of an overdose. Ian had been staying with Lee Thompson (Seamus O’Hara), an old Afghanistan army buddy who now runs The Loyal Pub with his uncle Rob Thompson (Dan Gordon), sister Mag (Seána Kerslake), and her son Henry (Alfie Lawless). The area is under the control of gangsters Jim “Dixie” Dixon (Chris Corrigan) and his rival Davy Hamill (Tony Flynn), whose protection racket includes The Loyal Pub. 

Lee, resentful and ambitious, already helming a taxi business and a side hustle in cannabis, aims to take over Dixie’s drug business. Like Dixie, he’s willing to cross partisan lines for his supply, arranging a meeting with Dublin supplier Tina McIntyre (Abigail McGibbon) in Belfast’s Titanic Museum. Lee has a fiercely protective attitude toward his community, believing that Dixie and Davy’s drug business is damaging, whereas his leadership will cement and protect his neighbors. He plans to run his business like a military exercise. In his relationship with his nephew, there’s also the indication Lee expects to found a crime dynasty. He’s almost someone you could admire in his loyalty to his family and community, except for, well, the drugs.

One of Murray’s first actions, when he realizes Tommy’s vulnerability and grief are at the heart of his lackluster performance, is threatening him with expulsion from the fast-track program. But he then invites him to learn “intelligence policing” with Shane. It pretty much breaks down to being overly chatty with suspected criminals or, in Shane’s case, calming upset suspects with cigarettes. But when David “Jonty” Johnston (Jonathan Harden) returns after being ousted in Season 1 for covertly collaborating with MI-5 and having an extramarital affair with a junior colleague, it begins to feel like the station is scraping the barrel for new blood.

The series nicely balances romance and lust with the practicalities of working under high stress. After accidentally walking in on a shirtless Shane, Annie has other plans for him outside of work. She also advises her partner Tommy to get laid, reminding him that he was smitten by another recruit during training, Derry officer Aisling Byrne (Dearbháile McKinney), and reminds him that calling is superior to texting under these circumstances. When Aisling is seconded to the team, she and Tommy start dating. However, Annie is far less lucky to trust Shane, who shares an intimate photograph of her on WhatsApp.

As our review for Season 1 noted, Blue Lights doesn't reimagine the cop genre for a new era where ACAB is an inflammatory acronym, but it is deeply aware of it, which is more than one can say for most police procedurals. In a world where the BBC is looking for the successor to Line of Duty's self-righteous cops heroically cleaning house, it could do much worse than consider life for those in Belfast on either side of the law as the post-Troubles transition period continues to forge ahead.

Blue Lights Season 2 debuts with two episodes on Thursday, June 13, 2024, on BritBox and streams two episodes every Thursday through the end of the month. All episodes of Season 1 are available now. Season 3 is expected out in 2025.