Blue Lights star Siân Brooke gets emotional discussing ‘heart and humour’ of series 2

Virgin Radio

16 May 2024, 13:45

Blue Lights actress Siân Brooke has opened up about the “brave” storytelling of the PSNI as the second series continues on BBC One. 

Siân stars as Constable Grace Ellis, a woman in her 40s who decides to switch careers from social worker to police officer in Belfast. The second series of Blue Lights, currently airing on BBC One, has received rave reviews as the Police Service of Northern Ireland crack down on Loyalist and Unionist divisions as well as a rampant drug problem sweeping the region.

During a chat with Ryan Tubridy on his mid-morning show on Virgin Radio today (16th May), Sian grew emotional as the host praised Blue Lights for portraying a modern day Northern Ireland, where there’s “goodness in the badness.”

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“You’re going to make me cry,” the star admitted. “That’s so much of what it’s about. I think that's also why it's gone down so well is because there is an appetite to understand Belfast now, Northern Ireland now. I think we have a sort of hangover from what the past is and what we've been fed. 

“This drama shows what it is now as a cosmopolitan city, as a modern city, with everything. All of the nuances and all of the colours that it is now, and that is down to [Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn’s] writing.”

Both Adam and Delcan experienced life growing up in Belfast when tensions and divisions were high, and much of Blue Lights bravely deals with the “messy history” of Northern Ireland. 

“If you don’t talk about it, how do you move forward?” Siân added. “I think it works on so many levels. It's a drama that tackles difficult issues, but yet it also has heart and humour. I think it’s quite unique.”

Blue Lights series two has been met with plenty of fanfare, and there’s plenty more to come as the BBC also commissioned series three and four following the massive success of the debut season. 

Discussing the “infectious” nature of Adam and Declan’s writing, Siân insisted: “You savour it all, every moment. We’re so lucky, we’ve done series one and two, and then BBC have nailed their colours to the mast and given us three and four.”

Siân’s world might be far away from the real world of policing, but it did allow her to connect with her father, who was also in force. 

“I had a hotline straight to my dad,” the Sherlock star explained. “It's just a chance for me to sort of delve into his world. I suppose he didn't talk about it as much when I was a little girl.

“Even in him watching the show, he has subsequently said to me and remembered stuff that happened or people that he worked with, and events that he's gone, ‘Oh, you've just reminded me I worked with someone like that’.”

Tune into Ryan Tubridy’s mid-morning shows weekdays 10am-1pm on Virgin Radio UK.

Blue Lights airs on BBC One at 9pm Monday nights. All episodes are now available on BBC iPlayer.