The BBC commissioned a pilot and the first writers' room for Blue Lights back in 2019, well before the series was greenlit and aired in 2023.

The show's development was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing the writers' rooms to move online.

Co-creators Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson both grew up in Belfast and wanted to authentically portray the city as 'another character' in the show, showing both its problems and its vibrancy.

Adam Patterson compared the experience of being a police officer in Belfast to 'trench warfare', reflecting the lingering threat officers face there.

Lawn and Patterson met with almost 30 Northern Irish police officers to help develop and inform the show's characters and fictional workplace.

The three rookie characters, Grace, Annie and Tommy, were partly inspired by real people the writers met while researching the series.

In series two, cast members Richard Dormer and John Lynch did not return as main characters because their characters respectively died on-screen and were arrested at the end of series one.

The series' debut in early 2023 came shortly after the real-life attempted murder of off-duty PSNI officer DCI John Caldwell, who was shot in front of his son in Omagh; Patterson paid tribute to Caldwell, saying the attack underscored why the show's message was important.

Series one holds a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 11 reviews, while series two improved slightly to a 93% approval rating based on 14 reviews.