BBC viewers call ‘top notch’ drama ‘most underrated show’ on TV

‘One of the BBC’s highest quality dramas of recent times,’ one fan wrote

BBC viewers are praising TV show Blue Lights, with the police drama being called the broadcaster’s most underrated series.

The third series is underway and, while episodes are airing weekly, people are tearing through them all on iPlayer – and fans are in agreement that it's currently one of the best shows on TV.

Blue Lights, which premiered in 2023, stars Siân Brooke, Katherine Devlin and Nathan Braniff as three probationary officers in a Belfast police department.

“Just finished series three of Blue Lights and this show continues to be pure perfection,” one fan wrote, adding: “It’s absolutely bonkers to me that it’s SO underrated. It deserves endless praise!!!”

“Blue Lights is genuinely one of the best shows on TV, “another wrote on X/Twitter, with an additional viewer calling it: “One of the BBC’s highest quality dramas of recent times.”

“If you’ve not watched BBC’s Blue Lights, may I politely suggest you do. Every series gets better and better. Top 10 TV prog, ever,” one glowing post read, with another saying of the “top notch” show: “If there’s been a better, more gripping, drama series on TV in the last few years than Blue Lights than I’ve obviously missed it.”

In an interview with The Independent, series star Brooke explained why she signed onto the project.

“I just fell in love with the writing,” she said. “It was so clever and accessible. You often assume people in uniform know exactly what they’re doing, that this couldn’t possibly be their first day on the job.

“Because Blue Lights is centred around three rookies [Grace, Katherine Devlin’s Annie and Nathan Braniff’s Tommy], audiences go on the journey with them rather than feel removed from it.”

Siân Brooke in ‘Blue Lights’ (BBC)

The drama was created by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson. A fourth series has been confirmed, with six new episodes set to be aired in 2026.

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Speaking about the show’s renewal, Lawn and Patterson said: “We’re thrilled that the BBC is committing to Blue Lights in this way. From the beginning, we wanted to write a show that had scale and ambition in its storytelling, and this decision gives us everything we need to do that.”