Angela Griffin on directing Blue Lights season 3, Waterloo Road and the need for better behind-the-scenes representation

But now, Griffin is taking on one of her most nerve-wracking experiences yet, directing the final season 3 episodes of hit BBC One drama Blue Lights.

The BAFTA award-winning series has been a veritable hit for the broadcaster since it landed on our screens back in 2023, with its future until season 4 already having been promised. The grit, twists, focus on a post-conflict Northern Ireland and heartwarming batch of central characters not only won over viewers across the UK, but also was a show that Griffin personally loved before ever considering taking on a role in it.

When we speak, Griffin has just returned from Belfast at the beginning of September, feeling as though she's only just come off of the whirlwind rollercoaster of season 3. "I'm still on that treadmill," she admits, talking excitedly about nailing down VFX shots and seeing final cuts of her episodes.

In Belfast for a total of seven months, Griffin's latest directed episode of Waterloo Road has already been released and we joke about how the two shows that she's worked on so far apart from each other, have ended up coming out within a week or so of one another. Oh, the wonders of TV and iPlayer.

Having already directed episodes of Waterloo Road previously – a show she was an integral part of on-screen also – Griffin still describes herself as a "proper baby" when it comes to the world of directing. "I've acted for over 30 years but I am so new to the [directing] industry. So there's nobody anywhere offering me anything. I've got to go through the process. I suppose there's a slight thing of, 'Does she know what she's doing?'," she tells me.

Talking about the familiarity and comfortability of directing on Waterloo Road, Griffin says that when it came to being behind the cameras, it initially filled her with some worry. She told the show that she'd only return if they let her direct it, but when they accepted that, a range of emotions hit the actress.

"I was really, really worried about what I had taken on and if I'd bitten off more than I could chew. But then, when the process started, it felt like the most natural thing I've ever done," she says. "It's just my world. There's a familiarity about everything and so and so I kind of took to it like a duck to water."

Knowing all the crew meant that the switch to being in the director's chair on Waterloo Road was one that made Griffin feel "very safe", with the actress describing the inclusive environment that exists on the long-running series.

"Waterloo Road is a really safe place to work, in terms of there are a lot of trainees there. There's a real thing about bringing people into the industry who wouldn't normally get that opportunity, whether it be class, gender, creed, whatever it may be. It's a very, very safe environment. You are allowed to make mistakes. It's not make a mistake and you're out. I felt really supported."

When it came to directing Blue Lights, the opportunity was much like any job application process for Griffin, despite her name within the British TV world. "There were no favours. There was no getting in round the back route of 'Oh, I know this person, or I know this person' – I didn't know anybody at all and I'd never worked in Belfast," she says.

Walking onto the Blue Lights set for the first day was a daunting one for Griffin, who says that when she did so, she was left thinking: "Oh my God, what have I done? What if everyone was directing it for me when I was on Waterloo Road? Maybe I don't know what I'm doing."

But it turned out that those initial nerves were just that and the same comfort she found behind the scenes on Waterloo Road were matched up in Belfast while filming Blue Lights.

Being so established as an actress and then a relative newbie as a director must be quite the tonal shift for Griffin, but she says that she's "quite enjoyed the challenge of it", beaming at the fact that her acting has directly correlated to how she serves as a director.

This season of Blue Lights has already been teed up to be the "best so far", with the regular gang of Grace (Siân Brooke), Annie (Katherine Devlin) and Tommy (Nathan Braniff) all reprising their roles. Two years into their jobs in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), this third season digs into new dangers and threats that present themselves as a new gang rule Belfast.

Not only is it the subject matter and Northern Ireland focus of Blue Lights that has struck such a chord with viewers, it's also its focus on character-driven story. For Griffin, a major part of directing episodes 4-6 was just that.

"My favourite bit is working with the actors I love, talking about character, talking about their story, finding the points, those story beats, those character moments, playing it for real, creating an environment on set that is really actor friendly as much as I possibly can.

"That's absolutely informed by the years that I've been on set where maybe that hasn't happened or maybe that has happened. I've picked up skills and tips from directors who I thought were amazing and brilliant and equally, I've picked up what not to do from the directors who've been appalling."

Speaking about this new season of Blue Lights, Griffin describes it as a "really interesting" one. "I was a fan, and I know that obviously I've directed these ones so I'm slightly biased, but I do think it's a series that's just got better and better and better in terms of – because now we've got the history of the show as well. You've got various characters that come back and there's a few lovely little surprises going."

She continues: "I'm so invested in those people. Now there's this is shorthand. You don't need to kind of explain loads of stuff. I just basically think it's just got better. I feel so lucky that I have got to play a part in it."

Her first directed episode of the series, episode 4, is one that contains huge evolution moments for every single one the characters, she describes. "They go through such huge changes and the performances are just incredible."

Beaming about episode 5 and 6 also, Griffin smiles and says that she does think "it's a really strong series", even if most of the time as a director, it feels like putting pieces of a complicated puzzle together. The style of Blue Lights is pretty fixed, but that didn't stop Griffin trying to weave in her own tone to her block of episodes. For one thing, she hasn't included any nighttime scenes and was intentional about Brooke's Grace starting the fourth episode by opening up the blinds.

There is a palpable emotional, tonal and aesthetic darkness to the first batch of episodes but that simple blind-opening scene was to show "the light comes in and signify we're bringing the light into it," Griffin says.

When it comes to the kinds of shots she appreciates as a director, it's one that lean into the natural, loving using handheld cameras and also, focusing on relationships. That's also an element of the series that Griffin hopes to see going forward in Blue Lights. While she remains tight-lipped about the prospect of working on the series for season 4, she says that as much as she loves the crime stories and cases, she wants to stay within the cast, namely Stevie (Martin McCann), Annie, Shane (Frank Blake) and Tommy.

The series ends on quite a two-pronged approach, delivering a cliffhanger that builds up a meaty fourth season and also with a heartwarming moment that'll leave you smiling and tapping your feet along to Westlife's World of Our Own.

But it turns out that wasn't actually how the series was going to end, Griffin shares. "That's not initially how it was written, the episode did not end like that. As an actor, I would never have known this, but that is something that as we went into the edit process. As we went into seeing the series as a whole, knowing where the series is going to go and sitting down with the execs, it's a very collaborative environment in terms of Blue Lights – in terms of most TV, actually – and that decision was made quite late in the day," she says.

"It's all to do with, 'Is it how I would have ended it?'. And it does, it gives you that feeling at the end of there is a sort of completion to it, but sometimes it's also quite nice to leave it on a big old hook. Because we know there's going to be another series four."

It turns out that the original ending was the pre-flashback scene, where it's revealed who's behind the new order of things in Belfast. Both Tina McIntyre (Abigail McGibbon) and Dana Morgan (Cathy Tyson) meet up in front of the town hall, signalling a new order and confirming that it very much are these women that are in charge.

The symbolism of that fateful final conversation taking place in front of the statue of abolitionist, social reformer and activist Mary Ann McCracken isn't a coincidence. "It's all about the fact that the women are in charge, the women are the ones who've survived and now they're going to – hopefully, who knows what happens in [season] four? – take over," Griffin says.

Speaking about the intricate shots, details and symbolism she's tried to weave into her Blue Lights episodes, it's more than clear that Griffin has a deep-rooted passion for directing. She too has an equal enthusiasm for trying to open up the industry to others, underlining the fact that social mobility and inclusivity is key for the TV industry to continue to thrive.

With a career that does span decades, has Griffin felt as though the industry has improved in regards to the people we see both in front of and behind the cameras? "It's definitely changed since I started. When I was 16, going into Coronation Street as the only Black character that was in it. I think there had been a Black character before, but she'd never become a regular. I was the first regular Black character on that show. I don't think I realised the gravity of that at the time, but I certainly do understand it now.

"So, in terms of what the industry looks like now in comparison to then? Massive changes. But it's not enough. Also what's happened is it's a bit of a bell jar that seems to have happened. When the streamers first came, it was like there was more work than there was people. It was like you couldn't even get a production manager, people were having to be trained up to come into the industry. There were so many opportunities."

Griffin continues: "There were a lot of schemes and workshops about bringing people into the industry. It was brilliant and wonderful. It's now changed again because that work has absolutely dried up. It's 52 per cent, I think, of the workforce that are out of work at the moment in terms of crew and the statistics for diversity in class, colour, gender has dropped. It's like, 'last one in, first one out' again. It's really, really frustrating because it felt like there really was some ground being made."

There has to be something done about it, Griffin tells me plainly, because it's key to see the make-up of our population represented on TV. "You cannot just have the same voices and the same faces of safety, or what's perceived as being safe, leading the industry," she says.

While there may be some strides in terms of who we see in front of the camera, Griffin says that the state of representation behind-the-scenes and in crews is just not in a place she'd hope for.

It's all about creating opportunities for those that may not always have them, also opening up an environment that is a ground for learning and making mistakes – but that would cost the industry money, something that a lot of productions are already struggling with.

"I think it always just comes down to money and people at the moment want to be safe. They want a guaranteed person who's going to put bums on seats and someone behind the camera who's guaranteed and doesn't need help, doesn't need training or anything like that," Griffin says, explaining that from her experience, Waterloo Road is the perfect kind of breeding ground for new and rising talent.

In terms of the future and what Griffin would hope for her industry, she says: "Let's get different colour, creed – just, let's get as many different kinds of people in as possible and open up this world, this industry, that does not require you to be from a certain class and to have a certain education. We're making art. We're making TV. It was for the working classes and now it's all those people that are being pushed out."

Blue Lights season 3 will arrive on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Monday 29th September. seasons 1-2 are available to stream in full on BBC iPlayer.

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