Blue Lights review: This Belfast-set police drama explodes back on our screens with fire, violence - and a few soap opera moments

The BBC's Belfast-set cop drama Blue Lights (BBC1, Mon, 9pm) returned for its second series with a tense and fiery sequence which saw an armoured Land Rover come under attack from a petrol bomb-chucking mob.

The tension dissipated when it was revealed this was a mere training exercise, a trend followed across the first two episodes, as set-pieces – a flute band march, a stand-off in a pharmacy, a foot chase through a Belfast estate – are resolved with a few well-chosen words or a baton to the back of the head.

Blue Lights was a massive hit for the Beeb when the first series appeared in March last year, and this second series doesn't tamper with the format too much.

The shocking events of the first series – no spoilers here, it's all on iPlayer if you want to watch it, and you should – are still rippling through the lives of the police officers of Blackthorn Police Station.

However, other events seem to be taking over, with a drug epidemic on the streets and the potential for a feud between ex-Loyalist paramilitaries.

Meanwhile, at the station, there are romantic leanings – both fulfilled and unrequited – an anti-terror officer making his presence felt and a hunky new constable who seems to good to be true.

The first series proved adept at mixing the tension on the beat with the personal lives of the officers – Grace's relationship with her son, recently moved from London to an alien Belfast, Annie's fears for her family's safety, Jen's struggles to succeed in a job she was patently unsuited for.

But this second series seems to have shifted focus slightly, with more of an emphasis on the personal, rather than the policing.

There are some soapy elements here, with Grace (Sian Brooke) and policing partner Stevie (Martin McCann) debating whether to take their relationship further, Grace taking in Annie (Katherine Devlin) as a lodger and Tommy getting some much-needed dating advice.

It also touches on the pressures facing the police, not just in Northern Ireland, but nationwide. Talk of under-manning is underlined by rows of empty chairs in the squad room, empty desks in the office and a half-empty, cavernous sports hall at the police training centre.

Meanwhile, the officers are left to deal with people having mental health crises due to NHS prescription problems or long waiting lists for psychiatric help.

This second one sees the hunky PC Shane – recently transferred at the request of the shifty counter-terror officer – solving the problem with the offer of a cigarette and a friendly ear.

“Always carry sympathy fags,” he advises Annie, “they're good for your health.”

But it's out on the streets where Blue Lights really feels most at home, making brilliant use of the Belfast setting to present a police drama which is simultaneously comfortably familiar, but undercut by the long shadow of The Troubles, sectarianism, and the peculiar effort the officers must take to walk a tightrope between divided communities.

There are some disparate plot strands that have to come together – Jen is now a solicitor who is looking into the perpetrators of a chip shop bombing at the height of The Troubles, while a pub landlord is getting tired of being pushed around by the local drug dealers.

Meanwhile you're sure that golden boy Shane (Frank Blake) – who doesn't bat an eyelid at running into a blazing house to rescue a mum and her son - is hiding some deep, dark secret.

And if you haven't watched the first series you may be lost, as there are few concessions to new viewers.

However, you feel – particularly by the end of the second episode – that, once again, Blue Lights is going to bring everything successfully together. Although I wouldn't get too attached to any of the characters. You never know when those petrol bombs are going to be thrown for real.