Blue Lights star Sian Brooke reveals what her police officer dad really thinks of her performance in the gritty BBC drama

Blue Lights star Sian Brooke has revealed how much her police officer father helped her with her role in the gritty cop drama.

The Welsh actress, 44, plays the lead role, newcomer PC Grace Ellis in the Belfast-based BBC drama, which is currently airing its second series.

Sian appeared on ITV This Morning on Thursday to talk about the huge success of the series and explained how the role has strengthened her relationship with her father, a police officer.

‘My father 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 happened. So being on the show opened up that conversation’.

The Welsh actress, 44, plays the lead role, newcomer PC Grace Ellis in the Belfast-based BBC drama, which is currently airing its second series

She also admitted that she was on the phone with her father during filming for help with a tricky aspect of the script.

“Thank God he was on the other end of the line because there are a lot of abbreviations he had to translate!” she said.

Speaking about her character on the show, Sian told This Morning: ‘I like playing her because she’s a lot braver than me.

“She knows right from wrong and follows that no matter what. 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 has decided to change careers mid-life.

Now a probationary police officer, she is often off balance and finds herself in unexpected danger as she tries 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.

Sian appeared on ITV on Thursday morning to talk about the huge success of the series and explained how the role has strengthened her relationship with her police officer father.

‘My father 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 happened. So being on the show opened up that conversation,” she said (pictured with Martin McCann who plays Stevie)

For Sian, it was a rare opportunity to work on a long-term character study after years of guest-starring and single-episode appearances, with the actress telling This Morning she had to ‘pinch myself’ for the dream role.

Blue Lights season two returned Monday to rave reviews.

An average of 2.7 million viewers watched the police drama, and this number is expected to rise in the coming days.