With a BAFTA in the bag and an international following, you can see why 'Blue Lights' returned to our screens this September with one hell of a swagger.
Now in its third series, audiences have built up a real affection for the show's characters and they are really invested in their ups and downs.
They've just about forgiven the show's creators Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson for getting rid of its most popular character in the first series, Richard Dormer's Gerry Cliff.
That series focused on the murky world of Belfast drug dealers operating under a dissident Irish republican flag of convenience, while cutting deals with military intelligence puppet masters who permitted a flow of drugs into upper middle and working class communities.
Series Two concentrated on a turf war on a loyalist housing estate that was also linked to the drugs trade.
Patterson and Lawn's third series takes it a step further, looking at the international drugs trade and its grip on the city.
Specifically the series focuses on the laundering of cash, with Cathy Tyson's Englishwoman Dana Morgan using the front of an exclusive members club as a way to wield influence in Belfast.
It soon becomes clear, though, to viewers that the club is just a distraction from a criminal empire using Northern Ireland as a gateway for the supply of drugs into Scotland, England and Wales.
Teaming up with Dublin criminal Charlie Maher's Fogerty and the Ginley gang who surfaced in the first series, Dana wants to go about her business without attracting any police attention.
Those plans go awry when Fogerty, who is a loose cannon, throws a low level drug dealer, Jack McBride-Marshall's Sandy McKnight off the roof of a mill after he attracts the attention of Blackthorn Station's police officers and also members of police intelligence.
Prior to his death, Michael Smiley's C3 intelligence officer Paul 'Colly' Collins had tried to recruit Sandy in a bid to infiltrate Fogerty's sophisticated drug dealing operation.
Colly is anxious to access an app that Fogerty's dealers use to sell drugs to well to do customers.
As Colly tries to cut deals with other dodgy characters in exchange for information, Joanne Crawford's Inspector Helen McNally finds herself reluctantly drawn into the shady world of her former mentor.
Sian Brooke's Constable Grace Ellis also becomes deeply involved in the case, reconnecting with Sandy's teenage girlfriend Aoife Hughes' Lindsay Singleton who she first came across in her former role as a social worker.
With Lindsay attracting the attention of Fogerty and Colly also keen to tap into her well of information, Grace is fiercely protective of her but she also encounters animosity from the teenager who hasn't quite forgiven her for disappearing from her life.
While Grace typically goes above and beyond to protect Lindsay and Helen McNally struggles with being privy to sensitive intelligence information from Colly, Martin McCann's Stevie Neil is also wrestling with major change.
Coaxed away from his squad car by Andi Osho's Sergeant Sandra Cliff to a desk job as Acting Skipper, he has to guide his colleagues on calls over the radio and advise them on how to handle tricky situations.
This means he can no longer partner his girlfriend Grace on the beat.
It's clear, though, from the look on his face that Stevie feels uncomfortable and out of his depth.
Meanwhile Stevie's fellow officers, Frank Blake's Shane Bradley and the station's goody two shoes, Nathan Braniff's Tommy Foster are in trouble, falling foul of Aoibheann McCann's Police Ombudsman investigator Grace Gilroy.
Both are under investigation after Shane cuts a corner by accessing the phone of Conor Mullen's dodgy accountant George McClelland while he recovers in hospital from a drug overdose in Dana's club.
George is used as a foil by Fogerty to move drug money but he is also part of a network of sleazy married men who take cocaine and exploit young girls.
With Fogerty using his links with dissident republicans to distract and threaten the police, Katherine Devlin's Constable Annie Conlon is taking a huge risk as an officer from a nationalist background visiting her terminally ill mother in the Glens of Antrim.
Fogerty's dissident dealings also unsettle Abigail McGibbon's wily retired criminal Tina McIntyre and Matthew Forsythe's solicitor Aodhan McAllister.
Meanwhile Tommy's girlfriend, Dearbhaile McKinney's Aisling is profoundly impacted when she and Annie are dispatched to the scene of a road accident where she witnesses the final moments of a victim.
Colleagues become alarmed by her behaviour in the wake of the incident as it becomes more erratic.
As Aisling comes to terms with witnessing a gruesome death while on duty, will she lose her cool on the beat?
Will Grace be able to keep Lindsay Singleton out of harm's way?
And will Colly be able to penetrate and shut down Dana and Fogerty's drug operation?
Even though it won a BAFTA, the second series of 'Blue Lights,' while better than most shows, didn't quite feel like it hit the heights of the original.
Series Two had moments of undeniable tension and power but it sagged in the middle of its run.
Nevertheless Lawn and Patterson's weaving of characters in and out of the narrative was a real strength - potentially setting the show up as the BBC's equivalent of classic American cop shows like 'Hill Street Blues,' 'Homicide: Life On The Streets,' 'The Shield' or 'The Wire'.
There was a sense in Series Two of the writers executing a plan that spanned several series and they did a good job building up a complex picture of what it is like to police a city that still bears the scars of sectarian conflict.
With at least one more series to come, that feeling of potential remains.
However like Series Two, the third series is uneven - getting off to a thrilling start in the first two episodes, losing its way in the middle and recovering its mojo in the latter episodes.
When 'Blue Lights' is good, it's very good - particularly some of the set pieces in this series like the road crash, the visit to the accident victim's home in a hardline republican neighbourhood and the accidental stabbing of one of the officers in the city centre.
However the lack of chemistry between Dana and Fogerty in the series is a weakness.
Scenes requiring Cathy Tyson's Dana to meet Fogerty and other characters on mountain tops, in abandoned warehouses, on park benches and in her office feel hammy and sometimes like a bad parody of a spy thriller.
And that's a shame.
Maher's Fogerty comes across as a poor imitation of Peter Coonan's Fran from RTE's Dublin gangland series 'Love/Hate' - he's like a PG version of him.
The decision to relegate Martin McCann's Stevie Neil to a desk job also seems counterintuitive - reducing one of the show's best characters to just wandering around Blackthorn Police Station looking stressed and lost.
By way of contrast, Brooke's Grace Ellis remains a charismatic character and one of the show's strongest cards.
Alongside Andi Osho's Sandra Cliff, Joanne Crawford's Helen McNally and Andrea Irvine's Chief Superintendent Nicola Robinson, the women officers in the show are arguably the strongest this series.
Katherine Devlin also steps up and takes her place alongside them, giving her no nonsense character Annie Conlon a much greater sense of vulnerability.
The addition of Michael Smiley to the cast is a strength too, with the stand up comic turned actor feeling like he has always been part of the scenery.
Abigail McGibbon remains a real positive as the wily, hard as nails survivor, Tina.
Blake, McKinney and Braniff have moments where they shine - although not enough.
And while Mullen is slightly stiff as George McClelland, Forsythe and McCann show a bit more depth to their recurring roles, while 'Cracker' veteran Lorcan Cranitch pops up in a delightful cameo as Shane's dad.
Aoife Hughes also turns in an eye catching performance as Lindsay alongside McBride-Marshall as Sandy who does effective work as Sandy.
Paula McFetridge also impresses as Marian, the supervisor in the former's children's care home.
With Jack Casey and 'Coronation Street' and 'Waterloo Road' cast member Angela Griffin directing three episodes apiece, the show is very adept at springing surprises.
Both do a good job alongside the writers at opening up new fronts for Series Four to explore.
The series certainly feels like an advance on Series Two, even if it doesn't quite hit the heights of Series One.
However 'Blue Lights' still lacks the consistency of Tony Schumacher's dark Liverpudlian cop drama 'The Responder' and the writers' tendency to go for "all's well that ends well" conclusions to each series still grates.
For all its flaws (and there are not a lot), 'Blue Lights' remains a compelling watch and you cannot help but root for it to take its place among the very best cop shows.
The ingredients are all there.
Here's hoping the writers get the mix right in Series Four because they are not far off.
(Series Three of 'Blue Lights' was broadcast in the UK on BBC1 between September 29-November 3, 2025, with all episodes made available on the BBC iPlayer on September 29, 2025)
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