Blue Lights.
Blue Lights. Rookie cops in Belfast Northern Ireland. I'm not one for Copaganda. All that Law and Order, CSI, and the nightmarishly antisociety Criminal Minds are one the main reasons we've got roid jacked lunatics running around the streets shooting up innocent people; cause in that world, now our actual world people are guilty first. This is not that garbage. The first season of this show is probably the best police show I've seen since The Wire, before that Prime Suspect, and back to the original gritty of Hill Street Blues. Seriously.
Really good writing. They get right into it. Grace leaves for work a little odd, drives down the street in her car, waves thoughtfully at a neighbor and Smashing Match cut to her hanging on, shaking around the seat, sirens blasting in high speed pursuit thrashing and bouncing down a rural road. Straight up Mad Max style. She's a probationer, Stevie is her tutor. Grace ain't seen nothing, Stevie's seen a lot. Tommy is a probationer being tutored by grizzeled vet Gerry. Gerry is a hoot, played by the wicked Richard Dormer who stole whole episodes of Game of Thrones as Lord Baric Dondarrion. Annie Conlon is a hotheaded black haired Tolkien elf that suffers from not always thinking things through. Watching her grow into the job is majick. The only other person I'm familiar with is monster talented John Lynch who changes gears here to play local crime lord James McIntyre, a man full of conflicts. The chemistry between these folks is top notch, the relationships are very real through the writing acting direction. Being rookies they learn about each other as we learn about them. The way they react to the public and each other, what makes them people, it builds a solid world for us. Right off it's clear that this little police outpost in suburban Belfast is easily wiped out if the hostile neighborhoods get het up. They can feel the distrust, the hatred and the wall of silence from the people they're charged to police. A hangover from The Troubles. They are completely understaffed and over extended. Yet, they treat everyone with respect. Hell, Grace tries to help people who don't even understand her empathy for them. I learned the cops are scornfully called Peelers. It comes from Sir Robert Peel, he started the Metropolitan Police in London and Ireland. From him are also the terms Bobbies, and Coppers from the copper buttons on The Met uniform. But I digress. The cutting plan and rhythm of the edits is always perfect. The camera cars are like modern French Connection, but with smashing bottles and bricks. The Irish locals always have some bricks to throw, like they store them at corners in case they get some cornered Peelers. Great photography all around. Great blocking without being flash.
The balance our local Police Section has to keep between the gangsters, the average locals the gangsters prey on and hide amongst, inter squad relations, and The Bigwigs downtown and in London is reminiscent of The Wire and Hill Street Blues. Frank Furrilo is happy he's not here.
Award for Excellence to magical Joanne Crawford as Sargent Helen McNally. She's the glue that holds this delicate creation together. To throw it back again to Hill Street, she's to this show what Michael Conrad's Sgt Esterhaus was to that. The fucking rock. She can still throw a punch in a scrap too. When they walk out of the briefing room into those mean streets, she looks at them hoping to see them walk back in, her eyes are pure empathy. When they screw up she nails them to the floor cause they have no margin for error. If someone fucks with them she defends them like a mother owl, with wit, smarts and terror. Formidable character, formidable actor. So much emotion in such little movements in her face.
S1 E4 Full Moon Fever. That's how you do episodic television. The story of a hellish night of conflicting priorities, massive under resources, and a tragedy all told through hostile Internal Affairs interviews and flashbacks to the night in question. A fast paced True Detective S1. Charles Bannier directs a coup de maitre. Lot of balls in the air, he has Helen knock it out of the park, or the equivalent in Camogie. The Brits just do this stuff better. Highly Recommend.
Streaming on Britbox and for the moment on HBO