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Co-creators of new BBC drama set in Belfast discuss heroic role of police service

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The co-creator of Northern Ireland's new crime drama Blue Lights has discussed the 'everyday heroism' faced by those working in the police service.

Speaking at a preview of the series, which airs from Monday and is set in Belfast, writer Declan Lawn expressed his hopes that viewers consider it an apposite time for a show to come out.

This is in light of recent events which include the attempted murder of off-duty police officer DCI John Caldwell in February.

"I think probably everybody in this room is so shocked at what happened," said Declan during a post-episode panel discussion in Queen's Film Theatre with his co-creator Adam Patterson and four members of the cast: Martin McCann (Stevie), Sian Brooke (Grace), Katherine Devlin (Annie) and Richard Dormer (Gerry).

Martin McCann (Stevie), Sian Brooke (Grace), Katherine Devlin (Annie) and Richard Dormer (Gerry) at preview for Blue Lights

"And it's strange because I think there's a different type of shock, depending on how old you are. I was shocked because I remembered stuff like that, and my teenage daughters were shocked because they'd never heard of anything like it. So some of us were shocked because we remembered it and some because it was just so unheard of.

"As soon as that happened, because we've been immersed in this world for a couple of years, Adam and I, it just really hit home.

"We talked about the show and we thought, I suppose this show does get across in this [first] episode and certainly in later episodes, the constant daily threat that people live with.

"It's not like being a cop in England; the danger doesn't end at the end of the shift. You bring it home with you. And there's a hypervigilance there. And it's a burden that your family has to accept. And there is a kind of quotidian everyday heroism in getting up to do that every day and so we felt that this show gets that across."

Blue Lights follows a group of rookie officers — Tommy (Nathan Braniff), Grace and Annie — and the intense pressure of those working within the PSNI, as well as the daily dangers faced by officers. Their resolve is tested to the limit thanks to the immense pressure in which they're under — inside and outside their role.

Katherine Devlin, Sian Brooke and Nathan Braniff play probationary officers Annie, Grace and Tommy in Blue Lights — © BBC/Gallagher Films/Two Cities T

"They are mothers, daughters, fathers, cousins, brothers, uncles," says Adam about bringing policing into viewers' living rooms.

"They are every one of us. We have a unique set of circumstances here. The threat level is different. They still do that job, knowing about that threat, which to me is just so admirable and something we can all aspire to, learning from that, the people that literally do that and lay themselves down for the greater good.

"That's something that society needs is the glue that drives all the mechanisms forward and the police service embodies that.

"We wanted to make a show about Belfast, a place that we all love and the police was a way to look at all of the different aspects of it, good and bad. But it is also through these people who take on a job, they go to a training college and then one day they're suddenly in the street faced with unprecedented threat. And how would we all react to that?"

The writers, who are known for the film Rogue Agent and BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings, were nervous about developing a creative project about somewhere so close to home — and showcasing it in front of a local audience.

"To make a creative product about your home is the toughest challenge we've ever [been] faced with," said Adam.

"I mean, not least because we have to live here after it goes out. It's complicated. Belfast itself is a complicated place, we all know that. It's a place we all love and yet detest at times.

"We build these characters, and we purposely build the character so that not they're not easily disseminated, they're not easily identified as binary.

"So, through this series, you'll find that some of the people you really want to hate, you'll start to try to understand a bit about why they do what they do. I'm not saying you'll like them, but you start to understand them a bit. And some of our good cops also make mistakes."

"Blue Lights is fundamentally an optimistic show," said Declan.

"In my 16 years of journalism, not just here but all around the world, weirdly enough, my takeaway was that the vast majority of people are good. Most people are decent and civilised and good. A small number who aren't, can get all the press and usually have a lot of power and that's where the problems come from.

"It's a show that is anti-categorisation, anti-binary, anti-absolute, and that lives in the grey which is, I think, where we all actually do live."

Blue Lights begins on Monday, March 27 on BBC One at 9pm with all episodes then on BBC iPlayer.

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