Blue Lights star Sian Brooke has revealed how much her police officer dad helped her with her role in the gritty cop drama.
The Welsh actress, 44, plays the lead, rookie PC Grace Ellis in the Belfast-based BBC drama, which is currently airing its second series.
Appearing on ITV This Morning on Thursday to talk about the huge success of the series, Sian explained how the role has strengthened her relationship with her police officer dad.
‘My dad was a police officer in England. He gave me the seal of approval,’ she told Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.
‘When I was younger he never really told me things that had gone on. So being on the show opened that conversation.
Blue Lights star Sian Brooke has revealed how much her police officer dad helped her with her role in the gritty cop drama
The Welsh actress, 44, plays the lead, rookie PC Grace Ellis in the Belfast-based BBC drama, which is currently airing its second series
She also admitted that she found herself on the phone to her dad during filming for help with one tricky aspect of the script.
‘Thank god he was on the other end of the line because there’s a lot of abbreviations he had to translate!’ she said.
Sian gushed about her character in the show, telling This Morning: ‘I love playing her because she is a lot braver than I am.
‘She knows’s right from wrong and follows that regardless of what happens. She’s just trying to make her sector of society better.
Written by the team behind Novichok drama The Salisbury Poisonings, Blue Lights stars Sian as Grace, a single mother and ex-social worker who’s decided to switch careers in mid-life.
Now a probationary cop, she’s frequently out of her depth and finds herself in unexpected danger as she attempts to keep order in post-Troubles Belfast.
Last year the BBC drama was a sleeper hit, with hordes of fans now devouring the second series.
Series three and four were commissioned by the BBC during filming.
Appearing on ITV This Morning on Thursday to talk about the huge success of the series, Sian explained how the role has strengthened her relationship with her police officer dad
‘My dad was a police officer in England. He gave me the seal of approval,’ she told Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard
‘When I was younger he never really told me things that had gone on. So being on the show opened that conversation’, she said (pictured with Martin McCann who plays Stevie)
For Sian, it’s been a rare chance to work on a long-term character study after years of guest roles and single episode appearances, with the actress telling This Morning she has ‘to pinch myself’ over the dream role.
Blue Lights season two returned with rave reviews on Monday.
An average of 2.7 million viewers tuned into the police drama, with the figure expected to rise in coming days.