Junk and violence are taking over the streets, and the situation has already escalated so bad that the police are running out of resources. Criminals are on the lookout, and the police’s own safety is increasingly threatened.
This is the case in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the British series Blue Lights takes place.
The series is one of the most promising in its genre in recent years, which is a great achievement in these times when crime series are everywhere. Most of them are insignificant, but a few are still ambitiously done.
Blue Lights continues now for its second season, and a continuation has been agreed upon.
Series momentarily brings to mind the past years The Wire – series, which depicted from season to season the deterioration and depletion of resources in the public sector of the city of Baltimore, including the police department.
Belfast is like Baltimore in European terms. At Blue Lights let’s remind you that the resources of the police are not enough.
The Wiren instead, it is still reasonable to take the Swedish one as a point of comparison With a thin thread -series, which follows the difficult work environment of Malmö police officers. Same way Blue Lightsinkin at the center is a grassroots working community where there is mostly good trust.
Series the first season started with the new police officers entering real action for the first time. Grace was introduced as the main character (Sean Brooke), who changed professions from social worker to police and often had to defend his softness.
The season ended with a tragedy, from which we are still recovering at the beginning of the second season. Grace is still there, as are the other central characters. Mutual complaints are monitored to an appropriate extent.
The roots of today’s drug trade in Belfast are in bloody recent history, and the second season also requires an understanding of the connection, even in outline. The writers of the series Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson are both from Belfast.
History specifically explains the position of the police in the city. Residents can still be provoked to turn against the police.
The police community the atmosphere is broken in the second season by a new suspicious boss who has previously been responsible for fighting paramilitary forces. The task sounds almost dystopian, and little by little the meaning in terms of the whole begins to dawn. A bomb attack from 1978 also comes up in the side plot.
Along with these long arcs, the dramas of ordinary townspeople are woven into each episode.
The villain of the season is the elusive Lee (Let’s talk about O’Hara), who has terrifying plans to rid his area of drug criminals.
Blue Lights, TV1 and Yle Areena.