A new six-part police drama makes its BBC debut. Blue Lights will fill the Monday night slot vacated by Better, which wrapped up last week.
The series stars Sian Brooke as Grace Ellis, a Belfast social worker in her 40s who leaves her steady job to pursue a new career with the Northern Ireland Police Service. Blue Lights grapple with the day-to-day challenges of policing in Northern Ireland and the broader complexities and dangers that come with the job.
Series creators and writers Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson previously wrote the 2020 BBC drama series The Salisbury Poisonings. The first episode of Blue Lights will air on Monday, March 27, but what do we know about the actress in the lead role?
READ MORE: BBC Vigil makes a massive change for season two, ditching the underwater setting
Who is Sian Brooke?
Sian Brooke is an actress who stars in the BBC police drama Blue Lights as Belfast social worker turned rookie cop Grace Ellis. Her previous television appearances include playing Eurus Holmes in the fourth series of Sherlock, which aired in 2017.
Born in Lichfield in 1980 to Welsh parents, Brooke’s real birth name is Sian Phillips. She adopted a stage name, derived from the English Civil War general Lord Brooke, who died at Lichfield in 1643, to avoid confusion with Dame Sian Phillips, the veteran Welsh stage and screen actress.
Brooke trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 2002. Her theater work has included appearances in various Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
He made his television debut in 2002 in the American series Dinotopia, in addition to accumulating roles in successful British series such as A Touch of Frost, Foyle’s War and Hotel Babylon.
In 2017, she was cast in the role of Eurus Holmes in the fourth season of Sherlock; the character is the secret sister of the eponymous detective played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Brooke originally auditioned for various characters on the show, before she was told that all of those auditions had in fact been for the role of Eurus, a master of disguise.
How to see blue lights
The first episode of Blue Lights, which has six episodes in total, will air at 9:00pm on Monday, March 27 on BBC One. All episodes of the series will be released as a box set via BBC iPlayer.
READ MORE: