Blue Lights: The police drama hitting home in Northern Ireland

ByÁine O Donnell

BBC Newsbeat

"Whether it's your friends oregon your family, everybody has their ain relationships with, and viewpoints on, the police," says Dearbháile McKinney, prima of BBC play Blue Lights.

The Londonderry histrion and her co-star Katherine Devlin, who besides grew up successful Northern Ireland, accidental relationships betwixt constabulary and communities determination were astatine the forefront of their minds arsenic they prepared for filming.

The Bafta-winning bid follows constabulary officers moving astatine the fictional Blackthorn Station successful Belfast.

But, for galore watching, the play feels each excessively real.

The trouble constabulary successful Northern Ireland inactive look was thrown into absorption this play by the long-running quality implicit the arguable Garvaghy Road parade route erstwhile officers had to forestall a march by Protestant Orangemen done a mostly Catholic area.

Many scenes successful Blue Lights item the distrust of, and hostility towards, the constabulary successful immoderate communities.

Warning: This nonfiction includes spoilers for the archetypal 3 seasons of Blue Lights.

Devlin plays Annie Conlon, whose storyline deals with her having to determination distant from location arsenic a effect of decease threats due to the fact that she's from a Catholic family.

"We bash person similarities - she comes from a Catholic inheritance and truthful bash I," Devlin tells BBC Newsbeat. "I cognize girls similar Annie.

"But I've realised we're antithetic successful a batch of ways. Mainly, to beryllium honorable with you, I wouldn't spell into the police."

Devlin says that forming Annie's quality was astir trying to recognize wherefore she decided to go an serviceman and "for that to beryllium the crux of her story".

"I deliberation a immense happening with this play is the thought of location and what location means to her," she says.

"Just battling that interior dialog that she has with 'is it each worthy it?'

"Especially her being a Catholic and the intricacies of that and the authorities of that.

"It's dense worldly and she has to truly deliberation astir it."

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had its lowest fig of Catholic applicants successful much than a decennary earlier this year, with immoderate pointing to "fear and apprehension" successful those communities putting them disconnected joining the police.

One of the force's erstwhile it was founded successful 2001 was to physique broader assemblage enactment and summation Catholic officers.

At the time, lone 8% of the unit was from that background. It's present astatine 32%.

In a connection sent to Newsbeat, Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the PSNI was "totally committed to being much typical of the communities we serve".

"I americium profoundly acrophobic astatine persistent and often unjustified disapproval and the outdated and unsupported views of dissident paramilitaries remaining arsenic barriers to radical seeing themselves having a vocation successful the police," helium said.

Boutcher said helium "absolutely" accepted the PSNI needed to bash much to diversify its recruitment but could lone bash truthful if "people successful each communities successful Northern Ireland spot policing arsenic a vocation for them."

He said the unit planned to motorboat a caller pupil serviceman recruitment run "in the coming weeks".

Blue Lights is filmed locally and connected acceptable successful eastbound Belfast you tin spot the attraction to detail, close down to the accusation leaflets astatine a constabulary presumption reception country and lawsuit folders connected officers' desks.

"It's truly beauteous conscionable to spot the magnitude of radical who spot themselves successful the characters," Devlin says.

"And [mention] however cofmplex the characters are. How existent and quality they are".

It's thing McKinney considered successful however she plays Aisling Byrne.

Aisling struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) successful the past series, thing Dearbháile says she spoke to real-life officers about.

"They've had to witnesser immoderate horrific things and been near with PTSD and trauma that they conscionable person to larn to unrecorded with," she says.

"It's the world here. It would beryllium ignorant to not deliberation astir that."

Aisling's information puts a strain connected her narration with Tommy Foster, played by Nathan Braniff, who is past faced with the determination whether to study her to their bosses truthful she tin get help.

And portion Braniff says Blue Lights often deals with dense themes, helium believes it does a bully occupation astatine showing what Northern Ireland is truly like.

"It shows that Northern Ireland's moving guardant and changing each the time."

One happening that's changed for the 4th bid is the nationalist involvement erstwhile the actors are filming scenes successful Belfast metropolis centre.

"After having lived present my full life, it's comic walking down the streets of Belfast and bumping into radical that I cognize wearing my afloat constabulary costume," Braniff says.

"The enactment for the amusement present is unmatched."

Frank Blake, who plays Shane Bradley, is 1 of the fewer actors who isn't from Northern Ireland but helium says helium felt the aforesaid welcome, acknowledgment chiefly to a country wherever his quality opens up astir his emotion of a definite Westlife song.

"We were shooting successful town, and idiosyncratic drove past blaring World of Our Own retired of the speakers," helium tells Newsbeat.

"I've agelong been a Westlife instrumentality and it was large craic. It's truthful comic seeing however it truly took off."

Series 4 of Blue Lights starts connected BBC One astatine 21:00 BST connected BBC One and is disposable to ticker connected iPlayer.