From Now On, Everything Changes..

So, is this it?

Are Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson about to pull the plug on ‘Blue Lights‘ for good?

Or will the show live on in some other incarnation, heading in a new direction?

Before we get into that, one more word of warning for those who have not seen all the episodes that have preceded tonight’s.

As usual, this review will contain spoilers.

Therefore if you haven’t seen the episodes already, maybe stop reading this and come back when you have?

(SPOILERS ALERT!!)

Last week’s episode of ‘Blue Lights’ hit its audience with a triple whammy.

First there was the confirmation that Blackthorn Police Station was about to close, with Inspector Helen McNally breaking the bad news to Acting Skipper, Stevie Neil.

Then she decided to join Sergeant Sandra Cliff, Jonty Johnson and Jen Robinson in avenging the shenanigans around the Gerry Cliff murder trial by passing on his explosive dossier on informers to the Police Ombudsman.

The episode ended with a bang, with Constable Annie Conlon noticing a bomb planted at the front door of the anti-immigration vlogger Katy Close.

Grabbing Katy and jumping into her hallway as the device exploded, Annie’s fate was unclear.

After looking on in their squad car in disbelief, Constable Grace Ellis gingerly picked her way through the debris in Katy’s front garden to see if Annie and Katy were okay.

The alarm was raised back in Blackthorn as Constables Shane Bradley and Tommy Foster delivered one of Lee Thompson’s gang to C1 for interrogation, while passing on useful information to C3’s chief operator Colly.

Ironically the price of giving Colly the information was him agreeing to pass on what he knew about the current state of the dissident threat to Annie.

But when news came in of an explosion and an officer down, Shane started to spiral as he, Tommy and other colleagues rushed to the scene and an ambulance was summoned.

Luckily, Sergeant Lawrence McCloskey was first to arrive on the scene and he immediately sprung into action as a shaken Annie emerged with just a cut around her eye.

Katy Close, however, was in a bad way, having sustained a much more worrying wound.

Instructing Grace to find a plastic bag and gaffer tape in the kitchen, McCloskey came up with an ingenious way to treat a collapsed lung.

Like a Marvel superhero, he picked Katy up in his arms and carried her to a Land Rover to get her to hospital in time for surgery as soon as it became clear the ambulance would not get there fast enough.

A stunned Annie knew she had had a lucky escape, thanks to her flak jacket.

Back in Blackthorn she, Grace, Tommy, Shane and Constable Aisling Byrne marvelled at how it had saved her.

“At least something works around here,” Shane joked.

Fresh from saving Katy, McCloskey wasn’t in the mood to chat about what had happened as he was in a hurry.

He informed the group that he was off to teach Zumba, leaving them stunned.

Instead of focusing on herself, Annie spent the evening keeping an eye on the migrant community activist Amira Saeed whose home had been targeted earlier in the series.

Amira expressed her gratitude to Annie for her ongoing concern and also told the off duty officer she wanted to meet Katy Close to dispel the vlogger’s miisconceptions about asylum seekers.

She asked if Annie thought Katy would be amenable but the PSNI officer wasn’t sure.

Armed with information from Gerry Cliff’s dossier, Police Ombudsman investigator Geraldine Gilroy confidently strode into Blackthorn and straight into Chief Inspector Nicola Robinson’s office.

While she relished this moment, a TV news bulletin announced that the Ombudsman had launched a major investigation into state collision involving a high level republican informer known as Farset.

Watching the news bulletin with Sandra in Blackthorn, Helen commented: “Here we go. From now on, everything changes.”

Chief Inspector Robinson demanded to know where the Ombudsman had got its information from and then quickly switched into defence mode, insisting the Special Branch agent she handed over to military intelligence, James McIntyre had saved hundreds of lives.

However Geraldine Gilroy wasn’t convinced, arguing police and military intelligence had actually ended up running an “agent of chaos” who was allowed to build a criminal empire.

“Some of our agents did bad things,” Nicola conceded, barely containing her rage at Geraldine’s questions.

“That’s why they were credible.”

At the officers’ briefing in Blackthorn, Sandra addressed colleagues telling them to expect some trouble as a result of the fallout from the Ombudsman’s investigation.

With her identifying Tina and Mo McIntyre as being the people most at risk, this prompted the officers to conclude James McIntyre was Farset.

But Sandra reminded them that Blackthorn’s officers could not under any circumstances speculate about this.

Sandra handed the briefing over to Helen who delivered the news that Blackthorn was to close within weeks despite her efforts to improve the station’s crime stats.

Reassuring them they would be relocated to other stations and that the moratorium on promotions would be lifted, she apologised for not being able to save the station.

After Geraldine Gilroy had left, Nicola Robinson bent Colly’s ear about the Farset investigation and told him they would probably both be removed from duty.

“So, we’re finished?” he asked.

“More or less.”

Colly being Colly, though, he immediately set about a plan to save his skin.

He rang Tina McIntyre and offered her and Mo protection if she delivered the arrest of the Ginley gang associate, Dana Morgan.

As William Crawley analysed the Ombudsman’s announcement on ‘Talkback,’ dissident republican John O’Boyle ranted and raged in his home about the McIntyres and decided to embark on a D-Fens ‘Falling Down’ style quest to track them down.

After receiving a visit from Aisling and Tommy to advise them of the threat to their safety, Tina pulled out all the stops to protect herself and Mo, visiting Dana to confirm that she could not continue their drug trafficking operation.

Tina tried to convince Dana of her loyalty by revealing she had rebuffed an earlier effort by Colly to persuade her to come under his wing.

She produced two phones containing incriminating evidence which she gave to Dana as a guarantee that she wouldn’t turn Crown’s evidence.

With no guarantee of her safety, Tina arranged to meet Lee Thompson in a car park.

Explaining their arrangement was coming to an end, she urged him to look after himself and make plans to get out of Belfast

But with John O’Boyle roaming around Belfast, would Tina finally meet her end?

Or would Blackthorn’s officers stop John in the nick of time?

Over the past two episodes, it’s been clear that ‘Blue Lights’ creators Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn have been intent on bringing the story about the McIntyre crime gang and collusion to a close.

Doing this, the writers would have known they were going to have to navigate the desire of international audiences to have a neat conclusion to the story and also the scepticism of local audiences about anything that tidied up a plot about informers.

Faced with that choice, Lawn and Patterson not surprisingly opted for satisfying the wishes of international viewers.

‘Blue Lights’ is screened in the US and Canada, Australia, Poland, Holland, Norway, India, Singapore, Malaysia and many other countries.

Those audiences are not going to be au fait with the controversies in Northern Ireland around the running of informers in paramilitary gangs during and after the Troubles.

Therefore they are unlikely to view the wrapping up of this storyline as a bit Scooby Doo.

The same is true for English, Scottish and Welsh audiences.

When you face that reality, you have to admit Lawn and Patterson and their director Sam O’Mahony did a pretty decent job in this episode meeting expectations of a cops and criminals show – delivering moments of high tension and also light relief.

The cast, as ever, didn’t disappoint.

Looking back on the entire series,  you have to acknowledge Andi Osho was probably the star player as Sandra.

Sian Brooke, Joanne Crawford, Frank Blake and Neil Kerry were not too far behind as Grace, Helen, Shane and Lawrence McCloskey.

Katherine Devlin, Nathan Braniff, Dearbhaile McKinney, Andrea Irvine and Michael Smiley were pretty solid as Annie, Tommy, Aisling, Inspector Robinson and Colly.

Abigail McGibbon was as consistent as ever as Tina McIntyre and it was good to see Richard Dormer return for one episode as Gerry Cliff.

Jonathan Harden, Hannah McClean, Paddy Jenkins, Aoibheann McCann, Dan Gordon and Seamus O’Hara also made welcome returns as Jonny, Jen, Happy, Geraldine Gilroy, Rab McKendry and Lee.

However not everything was perfect.

While Leem Lubany acquitted herself well as Amira, poor Tabitha Smyth struggled with a very one dimensional part as Katy Close.

For two series, ‘Mona Lisa‘ star Cathy Tyson never really had a chance in the very stiff role as the drug trafficker Dana Morgan.

During Series Three and Four, Martin McCann, who’s a very good actor, felt more and more like a fringe player as his character Stevie Neil was confined to base.

So where does ‘Blue Lights’ go from here?

With Blackthorn closing, Lawn and Patterson could choose to reboot the show by focusing on another PSNI station with new police officers and one or two old faces facing new challenges.

Another option would be to have a spin off with a focus on one character, possibly Grace.

Or they could simply call it a day, safe in the knowledge that they have delivered an award winning, hit primetime series that brought a taste of the complexities of Northern Ireland policing to UK, Irish and international audiences.

And let’s face it. Ten years ago, who would have predicted that?

With BAFTAs, IFTAs and Royal Television Society awards under theur belt, Patterson and Lawn have pulled off a remarkable feat – telling a Belfast tale made with mostly local talent that resonated with audiences worldwide.

As one chapter ends, a new one will emerge.

Whether it’s ‘Blue Lights’ or an entirely new show, who knows?

But I, for one, can’t wait to see what Lawn and Patterson do next.

(Series Four, Episode Six of ‘Blue Lights’ was broadcast on BBC1 on November 3rd, 2026 with all episodes available on the BBC iPlayer)