‘‘We never had any idea that we would be where we are now.’’ – Louise Gallagher on Blue Lights Success

By Dáracha McGlynn

The long-awaited return of police procedural drama Blue Lights is almost here. Ahead of its release, The Gown spoke with co-producer Louise Gallagher on everything from the show’s inception to what audiences can expect from series four.

Gallagher says that although the show aired in 2023, the idea had been with her as far back as 2015. Before taking the first steps, she explains that she wanted to ‘‘build her experience’’and was ‘‘keeping a note of all the ideas that were coming to her’’ for the drama.

It was in 2018 when she reconnected with friend Stephen Wright that the project finally began to gain momentum. She mentions that by that time Wright ‘‘had left the BBC as the drama commissioner and started his own company in London.’’ After meeting for a coffee and discussing the project, the pair ‘‘decided to work together on it and get the format down and find writers.’’ The two ‘‘made the decision in the summer of 2018 and it just took off from there.’’

She says that in the months following the conversation, everything ‘‘just moved really quickly.’’ Gallagher recalls telling the BBC, ‘‘This is the point of view, it was about three probationers coming out of training college and we were following them.’’ The BBC supported the idea and felt that Blue Lights ‘‘was a fresh way of taking on a police drama.’’

Gallagher mentions that the show’s writers, Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, felt the piece had an ‘‘interesting perspective’’ but the two were clear from the start that they ‘‘always wanted to be writing from a character point of view.’’ She praises Lawn as a talented character writer and acknowledges that giving him the opportunity to focus on the officers ‘‘gave him that space to really develop these characters and follow the story through them.’’

The three central characters, Grace (Siân Brooke), Annie (Katherine Devlin) and Tommy (Nathan Braniff) lie at the heart of the explosive storylines in Blue Lights. Gallagher explains that ‘‘the POV is always through the officers. We don’t see a crime happen, and then police come to it. The police are told something is happening down that road or something’s happening in that building and we only find out what it is when they go there, because that spoke to the reality of what police officers deal with.’’ What separates this show from other police dramas is its cast of well-rounded characters who audiences care about, and this in turn heightens our anxiety when they find themselves in dangerous situations.

When I mention the death of the beloved Gerry Cliff (Richard Dormer), Gallagher explains the reason for the decision was that the creative team wanted to ‘‘highlight the effect of that loss has on a society, a family and on a unit of people who work together.’’ Audiences were left heartbroken by his unfortunate demise, but for Gallagher, ‘‘the fact that a television character had that effect on the audience proved to us that the choice was the right choice to make.’’

Throughout its three series, the show has utilised its characters to truthfully showcase the communities of Belfast. With crime occurring all across the city, Blue Lights shows how crime affects everyone. Gallagher notes that ‘‘at the end of the day, a drug dealer’s a drug dealer. It doesn’t matter what side of the fence that it comes from, the damage that that does on either community is the same. They don’t care what sort of God you pray to, the flag you support or the community you come from, money and drugs is all that matters.’’ Characters like Tina MacIntyre demonstrate this, and Gallagher acknowledges ‘‘all she’s ever interested in is the business. She’ll work with whoever she needs to work with in order to get her business going and in order to keep the drugs flowing.’’

Gallagher cites the storyline she is proudest of as the Ask for Angela storyline from the show’s third season. It’s clear that it had a massive impact, with a story being shared where the show’s composer ‘‘was standing outside a bar and the bouncers were saying, you see that ask for Angela thing, so many more people are asking us what that means.’’ The moment even aired on

Gogglebox and the team felt ‘‘the fact that it raised awareness for young women and young men that they can ask for help if they’re in trouble when they’re out in a bar or public spaces was really important.’’

The show’s commitment to authenticity shines through in all three series. The creative team conduct in-depth research prior to writing each season to ensure that they authentically showcase the work that police officers do while also highlighting the challenges that come with the vocation specifically in Belfast. Gallagher mentions that ‘‘after the second series went out, we had a lot of retired police officers come to us wanting to tell their stories because they’ve never had the opportunity to do that.’’ One of those stories was recreated last season in emotional scenes which saw Aisling (Dearbháile McKinney) sent to a traumatic road traffic collision. Gallagher says that the aim of that storyline was to ‘‘deal with the trauma that she felt’’ and highlight the stories which officers shared with them that had seriously affected them, with some developing PTSD or taking time away from work. She recalls receiving messages following the scenes airing in which members of the public and police praised the series, stating that ‘‘they got it completely right.’’

Those conversations also served as the foundations for the more light-hearted moments throughout the series such as officers ‘‘bickering about what they listened to on the radio or just talking about life.’’ In the words of the late Gerry Cliff, the creative team ensure they ‘‘take a beat’’ in between intense action sequences so the audience can see some quieter moments between the characters they love. Gallagher feels the interviews gave the team ‘‘rich material that could be stitched in through the show and just give it that flow and that texture that’s needed.’’

With a BAFTA win and numerous other awards under their belts, Gallagher says that it’s ‘‘really humbling’’ for their cast and creatives to be recognised by their peers but acknowledges ‘‘the real pressure is just keeping the show on the road and keeping the production going.’’ She mentions that the team are proud of the young cast, with the show giving stars Katherine Devlin and Nathan Braniff their first big jobs after graduating from drama school. Gallagher acknowledges that ‘‘it will be harder to keep a hold of them as we move forward,’’ but that she feels it’s only right ‘‘to give them the opportunity to work on some other amazing projects to get more experience.’’

In relation to what the new season has in store for viewers, Gallagher teases that things will ‘‘go up a notch’’ now that Tina MacIntyre and Dana Morgan have joined forces to ‘‘run rings around our officers and keep their drug empire going.’’ Along with that, the murder trial of much-loved Gerry Cliff will take place. Those scenes are set to explore how the loss and its consequences have impacted the officers not only as individuals but as a group of colleagues.

It’s clear that the team may not be ready to close the doors at Blackthorn Station just yet. Gallagher mentions that they’ve been careful not to wrap the stories up too tightly in case they are lucky enough to bring their officers back. ‘‘We just need to take some time to reflect,’’ she says. ‘‘We want to take a step back and think about where we go in the series and come up with new ways and new ideas of doing that.’’ Regardless of when we may see the officers on the streets of Belfast again, it is certain that series four will bring audiences all the explosive drama they’ve been waiting for, with twists and turns to keep us all guessing until the final credits roll.

Blue Lights Series 4 will begin airing on BBC One at 9pm on Tuesday, 29th of September.