After a very long wait, the hit BBC police procedural, Blue Lights, is back for season 3. The show’s creators have hinted that the latest outing is “the most emotive season yet,” ominously warning viewers to expect “a lot of grief.”
However, given the gritty subject matter of the series, it isn’t too surprising to expect the unfolding drama to be peppered with some trauma.
If season 2 of Blue Lights now seems so far away you’re struggling to remember what happened, don’t worry. We’ve put together a handy recap of all the key plot points, ahead of the season 3 premiere on September 29.
Blue Lights season 2 recap
Blue Lights season 2 kicks off with Stevie and Grace called to the scene of a dead body discovery. The body in question turns out to be military veteran Ian “Soupy” Campbell, who had died following an overdose.
Their inquiries find them heading to a loyalist pub and Soupy’s last known address. He’d been staying there with fellow ex-army comrade Lee Thompson, and the pair had met while serving together in Afghanistan.
Viewers see Stevie and Grace are still fighting their feelings for each other, setting up a will they/won’t they storyline to frustratingly span the entire series.
After Grace’s son moved out at the end of season 2, her spare room has now been filled with none other than Annie.
Catching up with Annie, she starts season 2 on patrol with Tommy. While going about their crime fighting calls, Annie also finds the time to tell Tommy it’s high time he got himself a girlfriend.
She suggests he reconnects with Derry officer Aisling Byrne, who he met and hit it off with during weapons training – Tommy takes this very good advice.
The latest recruit to the team is introduced, in the form of PC Shane Bradley. Immediately placed as a would-be hero, there’s something about him that seems too good to be true.
We also catch up with Jen Robinson, who left the force in season 1 after Gerry’s tragic death. She’s now training to be a solicitor, and a plot line opening with her visiting Gerry’s friend, Happy Kelly, unravels.
Happy suffers ongoing trauma after his dad and brother died in a chip shop bombing in 1978. Still navigating her own trauma after the loss of Gerry, she feels linked to Happy, and takes it upon herself to search archive files looking into the unsolved murder of Happy’s family members.
Elsewhere, Jim “Dixie” Dixon finds Tina McIntyre standing in for her jailed drug boss husband. Dixie’s driver, Lee Thompson, is furious when he hears Dixie gloating about Soupy’s death, and pays fellow veteran Craig for a hit on Dixie.
(Image credit: Two Cities Television/BBC)
A little further down the line, Annie and Shane are called to a house fire on the Mount Eden estate. The house in question is one frequented by Dixie, and he was of course, the target. He wasn’t there however, when the attack took place.
Dixie believes the attack was orchestrated by Davy Hamill, sending henchman Keith to beat up Hamill’s teenage son. When Keith is arrested for this attack, he’s without his usual protection and open to further attempts by Lee and Craig to off him.
With a loyalist feud now underway, Lee meets Tina McIntyre at the Titanic Belfast museum, in an attempt for form an alliance. Leading unauthorised marches and deliberately provoking law enforcement, Lee wants chaos – and he’s getting it.
Elsewhere, Jen Robinson continues her investigation into the 1978 chip shop bombing, leading her to retired RUC special branch officer Robin Graham (Derek Thompson from Casualty.) It couldn’t be more obvious that he wants this case left well alone.
On the love life front, Stevie and Grace remain infuriating, while Tommy and Aisling continue to hit it off, and Shane and Annie quickly go from after work drinks to to snogging – and more.
Definitely intent on causing maximum trouble, Lee makes it clear he was behind the attack on Dixie’s house, when Dixie stomps into The Loyal Pub. Making a swift exit and locking himself into his house, Dixie’s not safe for long when Craig appears from shadows, killing him with a couple of shots to the head.
(Image credit: BBC)
With Jim Dixon dead, police put extra coverage on the Mount Eden estate to counteract any reprisals. Davy Hamill is arrested for his death but there’s no evidence to charge him – and he didn’t do it anyway.
Lee Thompson takes over the supply of Belfast’s drugs, using his taxi firm to move everything to where it needs to be.
Circling back to Jen, retired RUC officer, Robin Graham, eventually agrees to talk to her about the chip shop. It turns out he’d heard about the planned bombing but to protect his informant, who went on to pass on information for two further decades, he allowed the chip shop attack to go ahead.
His bosses knew about this decision and even signed off on it. Jen wants to find out who it was who signed off on this terrible act, but proving it amid all the secrecy might be impossible.
Still paired together, Grace and Stevie are called to the suspicious death of a cancer patient. This brings up painful memories for Stevie of his wife dying. He later admits to being cautious around Grace and being overly protective of her, because he couldn’t stand to lose her.
Shane and Annie are spending ill-advised nights together, and she doesn’t want anyone to know. He doesn’t seem to care that she wants their relationship to be a secret, taking secret post-coital selfies of himself and Annie while she’s sleeping.
(Image credit: BBC)
Surprise, surprise, guess who quickly ascends to top dog in the criminal world? Yes, of course, it’s Lee Thompson. He wastes no time undertaking his version of cleaning up the community, demanding loyalist gang leader Davy Hamill leaves the estate pronto.
Suspicions about Shane’s up-to-no-goodery are confirmed when Canning insists he has to go rogue to get results. This means forcing Tommy to go to The Factory Faithful nightclub undercover, when he hears that’s where all the dealers collect their wares from on a Friday night.
Despite Inspector Helen McNally had refused to authorise this, but Shane forged ahead with the mission anyway. Spotted and recognised by Keith Wylie, Tommy is delivered a brutal blow. Canning and Shane make a run for it, leaving him bloodied on the floor. It’s OK, he survives and lives to serve another day.
Relishing his top dog duties, Lee Thompson briefly takes his eye off the ball and leaves his 12-year-old nephew Henry, alone at Craig McQuarrie’s house. Delighted to discover a real, and loaded gun, Henry wanders the house playing pretend shooting games.
Grace and Stevie pass on patrol and Henry takes pretend aim at their car and is horrified to find he unloads an actual bullet on them, shattering the windscreen.
While viewers wonder if the star-crossed lovers would survive the shooting, Annie is busy getting retribution for Tommy’s near death in the club – she does this by punching Canning square in the face.
With Stevie and Grace both fine (phew) Lee shows zero remorse by immediately taking Henry with him to force Keith Wylie out of the estate. Angry that Keith’s actions brought police attention to his drug club, he’s intent on indoctrinating Henry into following in his footsteps.
(Image credit: BBC)
Lee also circulates edited footage of Stevie and Grace helping Henry do no further harm with the gun, clipping it to suggest the police had threatened Henry, not the other way around.
Back to Jen, she fails to uncover which officers signed off on the chip shop bombing. Instead, Happy is given a payout to keep him silent, which he donates to charity instead. Meeting with former RUC officer, Robin Graham, Happy shakes his hand and the pair make peace – despite Robin being the cause of Happy’s father and brother being killed.
It looks like time up for Lee. His sister, Mags, is so furious about what happened to Henry, she tells all the pub locals and Lee’s followers that he was behind the arson, murder and incitement of hatred going on. Mags also told Grace that Canning and Lee had been undertaking secret deals, so that was that was his royal smugness also done for.
Season 2 came to an end with Tommy and Aisling looking stronger together than ever. Annie forgave Shane for being a bit of an idiot, and he also seemed genuinely sorry for the mess ups he’d made throughout the series.
After a brief kiss in the locker room, Grace follows Stevie as he heads home, and they’re last seen together looking very cosy in the back of a taxi.
Blue Lights season 3 airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from September 29.
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