It has been described as the British version of The Wire, has won the Best Drama Series BAFTA, and continues to grow its hugely loyal audience. Blue Lights is a tense, thrilling BBC police drama set in Belfast. It follows three new recruits as they deal with the humdrum day-to-day of policing alongside realities of Northern Ireland’s troubled past. Dominated by female characters, Blue Lights is gritty and authentic, and it will soon need new talent to bolster its cast for the next series. If it sounds like something you’d like to be part of, read on.
Written by former journalists Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, Blue Lights made its debut in 2023. The show has dealt with terrorism, drugs, and organised crime, as well as minor spats such as breaking up a fight over a stolen wheelie bin.
Belfast is not only the setting, but also a quasi-character in the show. “We’re just trying to faithfully get across how people in this city think, act, and speak,” Lawn told the BBC. “So, if it feels different, it’s perhaps because we’re a couple of Belfast writers telling a story that’s right in front of them.” Audiences are clearly drawn to its complicated but very human crime stories.
The cast isn’t starry. Top billing goes to veteran Sian Brooke, and she is ably supported by a roll call of young talent including Katherine Devlin, Nathan Braniff, and Hannah McClean. This is a show that enjoys discovering new actors – like you!
The casting director for Blue Lights is Belfast-based Georgia Simpson, who has worked on productions including Dalgliesh, Art Detectives, and A Bump Along The Way. She allows actors to contact her via her website, so make sure your showreel, headshots, and CV are all good to go, because you’ll want to attach them if you get in touch. You can also catch relevant casting calls on her social media, so remember to keep an eye out.
At the time of writing, Simpson is casting Season 4 of Blue Lights. What words of wisdom can the actors who’ve made it through the audition process provide?
Devlin credits taking time on her self-tape – shooting and reshooting it until it felt right – for helping her through the initial stage of the casting process. “I remember not really getting the energy of Annie, but then there were a couple of takes where I just fell into it. I surrendered,” she told Square Mile. “I felt like I knew who this person was and then just had some fun with it.”
For Braniff, who plays Tommy, Blue Lights was his first screen role out of drama school. “This was my first in-person audition since the outbreak of Covid, and before that I had been self-taping. It was just great to get in the room with the director and casting director,” told the BBC. “The first audition was really amazing and I got a sense that we had really hit it off. But that’s never a given. I came back for a second audition and then got the good news a few weeks after that.”
Whether it’s via self-tape or in the room, the Blue Lights team clearly has an eye for talent. Help yourself stand out from the pack by checking out the below guides to the auditioning process.