When you watch a British series, you can instantly sense if it was conceived specifically for the British market or if from its creation it had intentions of traveling beyond the Atlantic and the English Channel. Luckily for producers, this decision does not have to affect their export capacity, especially when they have good raw materials to sell: then, as we say today, local is global. And, in the case of Blue Lights, which offers a realistic and not at all idealized look at Northern Ireland, it deserves the attention of the series-loving public, especially those who admire a good police drama or are lovers of everything that bears the BBC seal.
Grace (Siân Brooke) was a social worker until she chose to contribute to society as a police officer in her middle age and with a teenage son. The series doesn’t need to explain why right off the bat. She prefers to take the viewer into a normal and ordinary day for those who are in a testing period like her, which includes Annie (Katherine Devlin), who with one punch will understand how the streets of Belfast work, or Tommy (Nathan Braniff), who He has a weak, good-natured attitude that apparently doesn’t fit the skills his new job requires.
The first hour of Blue Lights, written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, is smart, patient and tense, which is a perfect combination for a cover letter. It introduces both the characters and the environment of the Belfast police station without rushing into exposition but letting the viewer understand the dynamics, with the promise of delving into all these aspects as the six-episode first season (and renewed by the BBC for a second).
Grace is teased for leaving her computer on; Jen Robinson (Hannah McClean) has an overbearing attitude that puts her in her place; Annie lives a coherent formative experience in that time interval; and she is shown the difficult balance of having to patrol the streets knowing that, no matter how hard they try, they do not have the time, resources, or tools to solve the problems they encounter.
In addition to having intelligence agents camouflaged around Belfast that make their work difficult, the new ones must learn to read situations, especially those related to the McIntyres, the family that heads the local crime and headed by the patriarch played by John Lynch. And Blue lights is decorous. Conflicts can be complicated by incorrectly pronouncing the laws that require a citizen to be searched or simply by being in a certain area of ??the city, where avoiding a violent confrontation may be more important than enforcing the law. Maintaining order may mean withdrawing.
And, while this universe is presented, the creators build a scene of tension worth framing: suddenly, all the threads of the episode collide in a desperate maneuver by Claire, who cannot leave behind her vocation as a social activist, when trying to help a woman with two knives in her hand. She is, wow, hard drug for those who understand policing as something more than solving crimes.
