Exclusive Q&A by Brad Balfour, Arts Editor
Set in present day Belfast, the Northern Irish police procedural television drama series, “Blue Lights,” was created and written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson. Based at the fictional Blackthorn police station, the series was filmed in Belfast and directed by Gilles Bannier.
Two years into their jobs as response officers Grace, Annie and Tommy are accustomed to life under the blue lights. But their work will take them into a sinister world hidden behind the veneer of middle-class life, the world of the accountants and lawyers who facilitate organized crime. The old political and criminal order has gone and a new global gang rule Belfast, bringing danger closer to home for our officers than ever before.
The series began broadcasting on BBC One on March, 27th, 2023. The first season followed three probationary police officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the experienced officers who train, mentor, and work with them. The second followed the same characters a year later as they tried to quell a loyalist feud in the city. Both series received critical praise and high viewership. A third series aired in September, 2025, and a fourth series has been commissioned by the BBC. Now the series is available in the States through Britbox.
Belfast native Nathan Braniff had his first screen role playing rookie cop Tommy Foster in this police drama. For the role, he researched “body language of how police handle themselves in certain scenarios”. He has described his attempts to show “the human side” of the police “with their good bits and bad bits.”
Also crucial was his mentor/pupil relationship with the actor Richard Dormer’s character, Gerry. This was explored in the series and was something he discussed in this recent conversation held over a zoom connection.
Q: You haven’t had a big series like this before, have you?
Nathan Braniff: Yeah, the first series was my first real professional gig. I’d done other bits and pieces and trained, but nothing can ever really prepare you for getting onto a set. You’re learning as you go, but with the first series, I was really fortunate to be partnered up with Richard Dormer, who played Jerry. It was such an interesting thing to be able to play [my character with his help.] I was playing the rookie cop, and he was the experienced vet, sort of like in real life. I was also the rookie actor and he was the experienced one. So it was interesting to be able to play and use because it was like real life. It was authentic and it worked.
Q: Had you watched a lot of police dramas before this? Were there ones that you liked, or that you think of? Not so much as a role model, but to give you ideas, either to respond to or develop?
Nathan Braniff: Yeah, for sure. “The Wire” obviously, is a big one. I loved Luther, with Idris Elba, and for more specific character ideas, do you know the movie “Training Day?”
Q: Of course!
Nathan Braniff: Of course. So, I can’t remember the actor’s name or his character’s name, but he was the rookie who gets taken out and is put into positions where he was super out of his depth. I used that a bit. I liked how he reacted in those situations, and how he was sort of like a rabbit in the headlights, almost. I took a bit of inspiration from him.
Q: I think that was Ethan Hawke.
Nathan Braniff: Yes, that’s exactly right.
Q: He’s a great actor. You’ve seen him where he’s the bad guy, where he’s the young recruit, and he’s got great skills. I’m sure, from an acting point of view, you’ve learned a few things as well from seeing his performance.
Nathan Braniff: 100% –– you have to. I actually think, more than anything, you learn more about acting from real people. I think rather than watching somebody else watch acting, just learn straight from the real people.
Q: Did you find that you wanted to go up to every policeman and ask them questions?
Nathan Braniff: Sometimes. I definitely have a newfound respect for the place and the job that they do. It’s pretty eye-opening to see what the place in Northern Ireland goes through, and the trials and tribulations that they face. It’s a country that has very niche outlines that are complete only in Belfast and Northern Ireland. Yeah, definitely. I have a new respect for it, that’s for sure.
Q: You have had the conflict between the unionists and the IRA.
Nathan Braniff: And their own [activities], what would be perceived by British police as criminal activities.
Q: Then you have layered on top of it, in this series, the issues of modern crime like drugs, corruption, and so forth. The police have a lot to deal with. You went through some kind of training course, didn’t you?
Nathan Braniff: We did. For the first series, we did several boot camps. I actually spent a lot of time in the training academy, where they train the real police. In the first series, there were a lot of scenes at the gun range, where my character, Tommy, is learning how to shoot. And they were actually all filmed in the legit gun range where they train the police officers of Northern Ireland. I got to walk around there and see all these real young people. A majority of them were quite like myself, bushy-tailed and wide-eyed. I took a lot from it that I was able to put it into Tommy, as well.
Q: Now you’re the straight-laced good guy, upholding what is thought of as the traditional values of the police. Does that put an extra responsibility on you?
Nathan Braniff: He probably is one of the more straight-laced guys there. He’s trying to do everything by the book. But the interesting thing about it is, he’s good at the job. He’s very good at recognizing patterns. He has a big oversight of all this criminal ongoing, because he works hard and he tries hard. He’s really driven to do well. But the problem is that even in the second series and this third series, people are trying to come in and lead them astray.
For example, in the second season of the series, there was an inspector called Canning, who came in and tried to pull him into a shady area, and then in this third series, he’s getting pulled in a different direction, a little bit shady [as well]. He’s trying his best to stay on the straight and narrow, but there’s external forces that are trying to lead them astray a bit.
Q: Have you ever seen the series “Chicago PD?”
Nathan Braniff: I’ve heard about it, but haven’t seen it.
Q: Your series reminds me a bit more of that one because they’re always struggling as to how far they should go — break the rules to get the job done or not? Sometimes, it falls into areas where there’s a lot of ambiguity about what the police are really there for.
Nathan Braniff: It sounds similar to some of the themes that “Blue Lights” explores. I’ll have to give it a watch.
Q: I watch that show a lot. It’s produced by the guys who do “Law & Order.” They’re really well schooled. On the acting side, who would you like to meet, in terms of people who’ve played police and have dealt with police dramas? Are there certain people besides, say, Ethan Hawke, that you’d like to meet and talk with — to share your own war stories?
Nathan Braniff: It sounds like you have some great police series over there. What was I watching recently? I can’t even remember the name of it — it’ll come to me — but you probably are familiar with it. It’s a team of psychologists who have a private plane, fly about the place, and go there to solve crimes ….
Q: Must be “Criminal Minds.”
Nathan Braniff: “Criminal Minds,” yes. I’ve been watching “Criminal Minds” flat out, and I love it. I really do. It’d be good to get into one of those shows or something. I have to practice my American accent, you know?
Q: Irish accents can be difficult for some Americans, but yours is very good, clean and clear.
Nathan Braniff: Yeah, we have to slow it down a little bit when we come over to America,
Q: You have to talk to Liam Neeson. He’s become an expert at it.
Nathan Braniff: His is almost morphing into, a little bit. He still has kept certain little bits of the Irish, you know, twang, but it is quite Americanized as well, I think.
Q: One accent which can be confusing is the Cork accent. It’s a hard one today. It’s like talking to a Glaswegian.
Nathan Braniff: It’s really hard. There’s a BBC comedy show called “The Young Offenders,” and it’s set in Cork. One of the actors is Chris Wally. Amazing show. It’s pretty small. It doesn’t have a big following or anything, but they have Cork accents in it, and it’s a couple of hours down the road from me. But even I have to keep my ear open to understand what they’re saying.
Q: Do you find that Belfast is as much a character in this series as your cast? Belfast is a unique city; it has this kind of bizarre quality. I’ve been to Belfastnin the Catholic area and Protestant neighborhoods. It’s a unique city in many ways, not that I spent a lot of time there.
Nathan Braniff: It is, and you know what? If this drama was set anywhere else other than Belfast, it wouldn’t be the same. I would go so far to say that Belfast is maybe the lead character in this show. It just comes with such specific circumstances that I doubt you’ll find in many other places in the world. And for the police, that means not only do they have to be concerned about the crime that they’re fighting. But there has been in the past, a general attitude that people in Northern Ireland have certain opinions and views on the police. That makes it way more difficult for them to be move about the city and do their job. Belfast is definitely one of the main characters. Probably THE main character, I would say.
Q: You’ve been south, obviously. I don’t know how often you get down to Dublin, or how often you get to other parts of Ireland. But when you meet people down there, how do they react to this series? Do you find you have a big audience in the Republic?
Nathan Braniff: Yeah, for sure. When we first started to do this show, everybody was a bit worried about how it was going to be received. Because obviously, there are controversial topics in it. It’s sensitive, and … since it’s come out, since that first series has come out, I can genuinely say that I haven’t heard anybody come up and be negative about it. Or have any sort of negative opinions.
It’s all been super, super positive, and I think that’s because these characters have flaws. They’re not perfect. It’s not making out that these are big bad police officers who are going out, fighting crime and are perfect. These characters are far from perfect. They have a vulnerable side. They have their flaws. And I think that’s why audiences back home –– in the south of Ireland and in the north –– they’ve taken this show under their wing a little bit. They’ve grown attached to it. And I think it’s because the characters resonate with the audience, and yeah, the feedback has been great. It’s been super positive.
Q: One thing I noticed also was the dynamic between the men and the women. A lot of times, policing has been thought of as a very testosterone male province, but that’s changed a lot. We see a lot of this reflected in TV series here in the States, from “Law & Order SVU” to the FBI series that we have here. What can you say about the dynamic between the men and the women in your police ranks? It’s an acting thing and also a police thing.
Nathan Braniff: First of all, I have to say that I think the writers are amazing at writing strong female roles. In this show, you’ll see that the top half of the police hierarchy in “Blue Lights” is almost completely dominated by female characters. I guess that’s a great thing, and it’s a pretty up-to-date thing. It’s a progressive thing, and I think it’s right. You shouldn’t be treated any differently just because you’re a lady in the place. Everybody should be treated the same, and it should only be based on merit. That’s the way this show is.
Q: Do you find that helps enhance the dynamic among all the actors?
Nathan Braniff: I think so. I think it does. It enhances the dynamic among the actors, and … I think it does.
Q: I noticed that you have some background in martial arts. Have you had a chance to put them to use enough. Or do you feel you want more opportunity?
Nathan Braniff: In the show, you may notice.
Q: Keeps you vim and vigorous.
Nathan Braniff: I’ve always done jiu-jitsu, that was my thing. Then, when I moved back from London to film this show, I came back and did the first couple of months of filming. Tommy was a pretty soft character back then. He needed to toughen up and get a bit harder if it was going to be believable that he would have a career in the police. In the first series, he was barely with it. I have three younger brothers, two are amateur champion kickboxers, and the youngest one is trying to be an MMA fighter. He’s had maybe five or six fights as well.
They were like, “You’re home now from London, why don’t you come train with us?” I ended up taking a fight in between the first and second series, which just helped me with everything. I lost a bit of weight, and felt more confident in myself. I think that’s what Tommy really needed in order for him to be believable … if he could survive being in the police and make it. Now if he sees a bad guy darting down the street, he can jump out of the car and chase him confidently.
Q: Do you find there are moments where you want to do competitive MMA, or one form of martial arts or another. Dp they keep you on your toes? Or do you try to keep them on their toes since they’re younger?
Nathan Braniff: No, trust me, they might be younger, but they’ve definitely got the experience. I went and chose the acting career and the jazz, and they chose the fighting careers, I guess.
Q: Did they take the piss out of you?
Nathan Braniff: No. Listen, I’d still give them a go. But if you’re going to be second best to somebody, it might as well be your brothers.
Q: Better than some MMA guy.
Nathan Braniff: Exactly.
Q: You talked a bit about how you evolved your character. How much did you try to bring to the table ideas you have about your character? Is it pretty, open? Or do you find you don’t have to worry about it because it’s in the script, and they got the idea that you needed it to evolve?
Nathan Braniff: It’s a bit of both. Obviously, I have a great deal of trust in the writers, Adam and Declan. The job that they’ve done with the scripts over the past couple of years has been completely amazing — they’re unreal. But on the flip side of that coin, they’re also really willing to hear any ideas that I have. Up to now, it’s been a real collaborative effort to get the character of Tommy to where he is now.
Now we’re going through the process of seeing what his future holds, and where he’s going to go. So yeah, it’s a collaborative project. I’m really thankful for that. I know there’s a lot of people out there who don’t work that way. They get a vision in their head, and it’s that or the highway. It’s been the complete opposite with this job.
Q: You’ve got three seasons under your belt. What can you say as a takeaway for having done it? What are your hopes for the future?
Nathan Braniff: My takeaway, I guess, is that I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned more than you could learn at any drama school or anything like that. Being on the set, knowing a character for three or four years has been such a gift as well. Because I’ve grown with the character, I feel like I know him well, he’s almost bleeding into me a bit at times.
I think for the future, in terms of the character, we need to find somewhere where he is … where he gets rooted and knows exactly what direction he wants to go in. And on a personal level –– as an actor, for the future –– I’d love to explore other things outside of the police service in Northern Ireland.
Q: Have you been to the States? Is there anything you hope to do, to build on from this series, to get to do things in the States?
Nathan Braniff: For sure. I’d love to come over here and work, you know. And in terms of actually filming anything, I haven’t done much over here. But we’re trying, you know. I’m meeting people here, and Blue Lights has opened a lot of doors. The BAFTA that we won after the second series really helped as well. For me, the important thing now is to try and choose the right thing next.
I’ve been lucky in the sense that “Blue Lights” has given me a platform where I don’t need to worry about taking any jobs that I don’t really want to do. I think as an actor, the only real power you have is the ability to say “No” to things. For me, it’s just going to be about trying to line up the right thing to follow on after “Blue Lights.”