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The BBC\u2019s best drama is back. Blue Lights<\/em>, which follows rookie police officers in Northern Ireland, was a stealth hit in 2023<\/a>, followed by a Bafta-winning second series in 2024<\/a>. And I\u2019m happy to tell you that the quality remains sky-high for series three.<\/p>\n There are gripping set pieces \u2013 anyone still traumatised by the death of wonderful Gerry in the first instalment will have their heart in their mouth here over the fate of another major character \u2013 but it\u2019s the bond between the officers that gives Blue Lights <\/em>its heart. Annie (Katherine Devlin) compares it to playing Gaelic football for club and county: your county teammates will go to your funeral. Your clubmates will carry your coffin. These are clubmates.<\/p>\n Writers Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson pull on threads from previous series, immersing us in the world of organised crime and cocaine dealing, but their focus this time is as much on the buyers as the sellers.<\/p>\n Shane (Frank Blake) rails against the \u201cnice, respectable, middle-class people who go to dinner parties, they drink some wine and do a few wee lines and think what they do doesn\u2019t really count\u201d. This is not an original idea, of course, but it gives the show somewhere new to go. A swanky private members\u2019 club run by Dana Morgan (Cathy Tyson) attracts the city\u2019s monied, middle-aged professionals, but an accidental overdose by one of the patrons also attracts the attention of the PSNI.<\/p>\n A new character, intelligence officer Paul \u201cColly\u201d Collins (Michael Smiley), arrives to work alongside the team \u2013 helping or hindering them, depending on your point of view. Smiley is a good addition to the cast, but it\u2019s the series regulars with whom we want to spend the most time, especially the sweet-natured Grace and Stevie (Si\u00e2n Brooke and Martin McCann), who are now a fully fledged couple.<\/p>\n Stevie is offered a promotion to sergeant, while Grace takes on a case with links back to her old job as a social worker. If I had to pick a star of this series it would be Frank Blake as Shane, whose cockiness has given way to something more genuine. He also gets the funniest lines.<\/p>\n