'Belfast, this one's for you' says Blue Lights co-writer on Bafta win

BBC One police drama Blue Lights has won best drama category at the Baftas.

The series follows a batch of newly-qualified officers navigating policing in a post-conflict Northern Ireland.

Co-created and written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, its stars include Sian Brooke, Martin McCann, Katherine Devlin and Nathan Braniff.

Accepting the award, Mr Lawn thanked the people of Belfast for letting the writers of the show tell their stories.

"Belfast, this one's for you," he said.

Blue Lights won for its second series and beat BBC One's Sherwood, Netflix's Supacell and BBC One's Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light.

The drama, which is currently filming its third series, follows police officers on patrol in various communities throughout Belfast, tackling paramilitaries, corruption, and legacy issues.

Co-creator Stephen Wright said it was "just fantastic" as he and other cast members and writers stood on stage at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday night.

"Thank you to everybody at the BBC who supported this show from day one," he said.

"I want to thank NI Screen who supported us at home and BBC studios for supporting us around the world.

"A personal thank you to my partners in crime - Louise Gallagher who had this idea, Amanda Black who produced this series, Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn," Mr Wright said.

Mr Lawn paid tribute to the people of Belfast as he accepted the award.

"Thanks to our amazing cast and crew, both those here and those back in Belfast," he said.

"Thanks to Noel McCann and Bronagh Taggart, who wrote so beautifully on that season of television, and thanks also to this man [Adam Patterson] who directed it so well.

"We've been on quite a journey together, so this feels pretty extraordinary.

"And thank you finally, to the people of our home city, for letting us tell your stories.

"Belfast – this one's for you," he concluded.

A BBC report said Blue Lights had generated an estimated £20m to the Northern Ireland economy through employment and spending in the supply chain across its first two series.

The series, made by Two Cities Television, employed an average of 59 cast of which 83% were either born in or a resident of Northern Ireland.

Of the crew of 246, more than 87% were from Northern Ireland.

In a statement to BBC News NI, the show's executive producers and co-creators said: "We were given the freedom by the BBC to make a show about our own place, in our own time, in our own voice."

They added that this was a "rare opportunity", and dedicated the award to "every person" who worked on Blue Lights.