Is Sian Brooke the BBC's lucky charm? As Blue Lights returns with rave reviews ... trends now
Blue Lights season two returned with rave reviews on Monday as Sian Brooke reprised her role as Constable Grace Ellis, a social worker turned policeman attempting to get a handle on the crime in Belfast.
It's the latest of Sian's series to receive rave reviews of late, having been plucked by BBC bosses to star in several primetime shows on the channel.
An average of 2.7 million viewers tuned into the police drama, with the figure expected to rise in coming days.
As the BBC battles inflation costs and, bosses will no doubt be grateful that Sian is continuing to pull in viewers with her quality performances.
After all, the Welsh actress, 44, has become a familiar face for viewers after appearing in dramas such as The Moorside, Doctor Foster and Sherlock.
Her latest role has the potential to take her from recognisable face to household name, with millions expected to tune in for season two of Blue Lights
How Sian Brooke rose through the ranks from bit parts in crime dramas to land the gritty lead role in popular Belfast police drama Blue Lights
She gained prominence in 2017 when she starred in the fourth and final series of Sherlock as Eurus Holmes, the psychotic younger sister of Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch).
Viewers were left in shock at a twist that revealed Eurus had been masquerading as three different characters.
Sian was praised by viewers for her versatility in the role and her interactions with co-star Benedict, no doubt refined from having worked with him two years prior in the Barbican's production of Hamlet.
Speaking about the role, Sian revealed that she was also left in the dark when it came to the part, thinking she was auditioning for three separate roles until Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss revealed the twist.
Sian told Digital Spy: 'It was amazing. I kept coming in for these meetings, these secret meetings, and thinking "Why am I [being asked to audition for all these parts]? Oh, there’s just a couple of [small] parts and a big part".
'That’s what I thought. I thought "Well, it’s a part in Sherlock, lovely." And then when they actually revealed what it was I was like "What? What?! What?!"'
The same year, Sian featured in The Moorside, the BBC’s controversial dramatisation of the Shannon Matthews story and her faked kidnap in 2008.
The opening episode broke records to become the broadcaster’s most watched new drama in recent history, with 9.9 million people tuning in for the first episode of The Moorside, which focused on the real-life hunt for Miss Matthews following her faked kidnap in 2008.
It performed better than Sherlock, whose first episode was watched by 8.7million people when it aired in 2010.
Sian starred as Natalie Brown - a neighbour who had allowed Shannon's mother Karen (played by Gemma Whelan) to move into her home while searches were being conducted for the missing little girl over 24 days.
Shannon Matthews became a household name at the age of nine, when she went missing from the Moorside estate in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.
But after three weeks of hunting, it emerged that the ‘kidnap’ had actually been staged by the girl’s own mother, Karen Matthews, and her accomplice Michael Donovan. Police found Shannon in the base of a divan bed at Donovan’s flat.
She gained prominence in 2017 when she starred in the fourth and final series of Sherlock as Eurus Holmes, the psychotic younger sister of Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Sian is pictured, left, with Sheridan Smith and Gemma Whelan in ITV's 2017 drama The Moorside - about the search for missing Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews
Sian rounded off the year with a role in season two of Doctor Foster, playing GP Sian Lambert who clashed with Gemma Foster (Suranne Jones).
Her character's name was no coincidence, with Doctor Foster creator and playwright Mike Bartlett revealing he wrote the role for her without even knowing if she was available or wanted to do it
Mike explained: 'Sian is one of the best actors I’ve ever seen. Surprising, truthful, moving and funny - she can do it all.
'I don’t normally think of actors when I write, but yes I had Sian Brooke in mind as Sian in mind from the moment I started writing her. I was too embarrassed to tell her, though I suppose the name was a pretty big clue. I need to hide it better next time.
Mike went on to state that her role in Doctor Foster proved that she was a leading actress in waiting, saying: 'Sian can and will be holding scenes and shows in her own right as a lead.'
Yet her latest role has the potential to take her from recognisable face to household name, as the star of BBC's gritty Belfast police drama, Blue Lights.
It follows the long line of crime shows she has found herself in, with roles in A Touch of Frost, Midsomer Murders and New Tricks among others.
Yet it's hardly surprising that she's gravitated towards police dramas as the daughter of a former officer.
Speaking to The Sunday Post, Sian revealed that that her father's work in the police changed her approach to the character, explaining: 'It’s why I felt such an affinity with the role and that world.
'It was nice to portray the human aspect of a job which has such high levels of responsibility.
