On the Belfast Beat With the ‘Blue Lights’ Cast

It’s a cool May morning in East Belfast, and Blackthorn Police Station is quiet and still. Desks sit empty, some chairs topped with bottle-green standard-issue PSNI police caps. In a long corridor, a solitary plaque commemorates Constable Gerry Cliff, 1969–2023: “Who dedicated his life to protect us.” Then, faintly overheard: “Cut!”

I’m on the set of Blue Lights , the BBC’s Belfast-set police drama that follows a cohort of flawed, idealistic rookies as they navigate one of the most complicated policing landscapes in Europe. (The third season is currently streaming on BritBox in the US.) The show’s writers and creators, Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson—who met while making BBC documentaries about Northern Ireland—anchor it in the realities of current-day Northern Ireland, where paramilit