Blue Lights began on BBC One tonight and, like central character Grace Ellis, we needed a stiff gin at the end of episode 1.
Similarly to Martin Freeman’s The Responder, the new police drama series managed to portray the real fear that officers can often feel on the job.
The series, which follows three new recruits to Belfast’s police force, showed how much the police officers have to trust each other – literally putting their lives in each others’ hands.
And in this case, the new recruits were totally out of their depths…
Here are the six burning questions we have after watching Blue Lights episode 1 on BBC One.
***Warning: spoilers from episode 1 of Blue Lights ahead***
Blue Lights episode 1: What is James McIntyre capable of?
The big bad wolf in Blue Lights is James McIntyre, followed closely by his son Mo McIntyre, and their dodgy associates – including Gordy Mackle.
They are thoroughly unpleasant pieces of work, who think nothing of intimidating the police.
Not to mention physically attacking them.
We know that James, played by John Lynch, is already on the terrorism and organised crime watch list.
But what are his crimes, and what is he capable of?
James intervened when his son Mo went to punch new recruit police officer Annie Conlon (Katherine Devlin), but we’re not fooled.
This man is capable of real violence…
Will Grace pass her probation?
In Blue Lights episode 1, new recruit Grace Ellis went above and beyond for Gordy’s mother Angela Mackle – even giving the mum her phone number.
The new recruits have two months left before passing or failing.
And all three were told they have failings.
Grace’s partner, Stevie Neil, told her: “If you carry on doing this job the way you’ve started, you’ll get yourself into a lot of trouble.”
However, Grace believes there could be a different way to do the job.
Crucially, perhaps, she’s a former social worker which makes sense in the way she approaches policing.
But we don’t yet know why she left her previous job…
How did Angela Mackle get realised with no mental health check?
Angela Mackle was clearly distraught about her son Gordy, who seems to working for the McIntyre family.
We know he’s been spending a lot of time at the so-called Palace, and she told Grace that her son was “being taken away from her”.
In tense scenes in Blue Lights episode 1, Grace tried to help Angela who appeared to be psychotic.
However, police were told Angela was “out of bounds”.
She was later released from police custody without charge and, more importantly, without a mental health check.
But why?
Who are the ‘sneaky beakies’ and why are they following Grace?
Richard Dormer’s character Gerry Cliff had an encounter with the ‘sneaky beakies’ in Blue Lights episode 1.
He described them as being British, saying: “Not C4, maybe DET or BOX.”
What does it all mean?
So why were they in town, and what do they want?
At the end of episode 1, the mysterious “sneaky beakies” had followed Grace home.
Viewers saw them taking pictures of her house.
They don’t seem very friendly, do they?
Blue Lights episode 1: What are all the acronyms?
There are tons of acronyms we don’t understand in Blue Lights.
Like Line of Duty before it, the police use a form of secret language which is totally baffling to us viewers.
We were told that “upgulliver nominal” means a person of interest who can be stopped and searched at any time – for example, the McIntyre family.
During the fraught scenes with Angela Mackle, the officers on the scene were told it was a WOB case – out of bounds for normal coppers.
We don’t have a Scooby Doo what any of it means! Do you?
Blue Lights episode 1: Where did Grace get her son from?
Grace’s son Cal Ellis, played by Matthew Carver, was perhaps the most unbelievable element in the whole episode…
I mean, who has a son as perfect as him?
Not only did he cook his mum’s tea, he made her the G&T she’d been dreaming of all day.
When it comes to children, he is son goals.
Every household needs one!
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Blue Lights continues on Monday, April 3, 2023 at 9pm on BBC One. All episodes are currently available to watch in BBC iPlayer.
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