| Worth seeing: | for the nail-biting police procedural thrills and the insight into crime fighting in Northern Ireland, rather than the efforts to delve too far into the personal lives of the officers |
| Featuring: | Andi Osho, Charlie Maher, Dearbháile McKinney, Frank Blake, Joanne Crawford, Katherine Devlin, Martin McCann, Nathan Braniff, Sian Brooke, Abigail McGibbon, Andrea Irvine, Aoife Hughes, Cathy Tyson, Conor Mullen, Jack McBride-Marshall, Michael Smiley, Neil Keery, Nigel O'Neill |
| Key crew: | Angela Griffin, Jack Casey, , Adam Patterson, Declan Lawn |
| Channel: | BBC iPlayer, BBC1 |
| Length: | 58 minutes |
| Episodes: | 6 |
| Broadcast date: | 29th September 2025 |
| Country: | UK |
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The already tense world of policing drugs gangs in Belfast, split down sectarian lines, jumps to another level when there’s a bomb attack on a senior officer and a threat on the life of another (Katherine Devlin), whose mother is close to death.
And when an IRA cell steps up its drug dealing through an exclusive private members club, a senior intelligence officer, Colly (Michael Smiley), gets called in to lead the investigation from the shadows.
All of this, makes Stevie’s (Martin McCann) first few days as sergeant at Blackthorn even more stressful that it might otherwise be.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
After following the recruits at Blackthorn police station through their training and then watching them grow more confidence in their jobs, they’re now fully functioning officers, being given more responsibility.
Most of the favourites from the previous two seasons are still on the beat, facing up to increasingly dangerous challenges.
The officers find themselves facing death on a daily basis – sometimes innocents’, sometimes paramilitaries’, sometimes their own.
While Season 3 doesn’t have the immediacy and originality of the first series, it’s stronger than the follow-up, in terms of both narrative and excitement. Episode 5 is particularly tense – make sure you grow your fingernails before watching this one, or you’ll be down to the knuckle by the time the closing titles start to roll.
It doesn’t work at every beat and it often feels a little arch, not least, when we see how many officers are working at the police station but follow only a handful, although this enables us to get to know the few well enough that we really engage with their lives.
Its efforts to lift the bonnet of Northern Ireland policing give a fresh perspective to TV drama, from factional in-fighting to the targeting of officers on the one side and the cooperation of the emergency services and the underhand operations of the intelligence officers on the other, and some of the highlights are the quiet moments, such as a bereaved IRA boss showing officers a grudging respect as he helps them escape a dicey situation.
It’s better at the police procedural than at the personal relationships – an interlude involving Irish popstars Westlife feels a little jarring, but Blue Lights remains well executed – and continues to keep you on the edge of your seat – which is what you want from a police drama.