Major Blue Lights character back from the dead in huge season 4 twist

For fans of surprise smash-hit BBC drama Blue Lights, we have good news, and some really excellent news.

The good news is that season 4 of the BAFTA and RTS award-winning series is underway, and photos have been released of the cast getting busy at script read-throughs.

The best and really quite spectacular news is that Richard Dormer is returning to the show for season 4 as Gerry Cliff.

This isn't hearsay or trickery, the BBC have confirmed the actor will be reprising his role for the fourth outing of the police procedural drama, and Richard has officially been pictured at the read-through with the rest of the returning cast.

"But how?" we hear you cry, and that is a very good question. Unless we're having some sort of memory blip, Gerry was last seen being shot by gang member Sully. He then died in Jen's arms in one of the saddest TV deaths in history.

While his return has been confirmed, there has been no word about the capacity in which Gerry will return - but we can always speculate.

It's likely many minds will jump to the conclusion that Gerry isn't really dead, and his apparent demise was just a misdirect.

This seems like it's already been debunked, as the BBC reports that a big focus of season 4 will be "the murder trial of Gerry Cliff" which "exposes a long-buried secret that leads to chaos inside the police."

Alas, Gerry remains deceased, but the "long-buried secret" has piqued our interest. Co-creators and co-writers of the show, Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, have dropped similar hints about why Gerry is back.

They've said, "We’re very excited to bring this series of Blue Lights to audiences. It reveals a lot of dark secrets, examines what justice looks like in Belfast today, and ties together the past, present, and futures of Grace, Annie and Tommy in an action-packed story. We can’t wait to start filming it!"

We believe that Gerry's death was likely a part of the "dark secrets" being talked about, and there's more to it than him being in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was shot.

While we don't want to believe that Gerry was up to something he shouldn't have been, and was killed over some bent police officer actions, it should be considered.

What is most likely to happen is that he was innocently involved in the "dark secrets" by accidentally stumbling on important information or knowing more than he was believed to know about the season 1 case that ended his life.

His appearance would therefore be a series of flashbacks to let audiences in on what he found out and expand on his interactions with the McIntyre gang.

Richard Dormer isn't the only cast member returning for season 4. As well as all of the usual characters reprising their roles, season 3's Cathy Tyson is also returning as private members club owner, Dana Morgan and Michael Smiley is back as C3 intelligence officer Paul ‘Colly’ Collins.

It did appear their roles had been wrapped up by the end of the third season, so expanding their character arcs into season 4 adds an even bigger level of interest.

While we can't wait to see how everything plays out, we are sure season 4 will be just as much or an absolute corker as the previous seasons of this iconic show.

All three seasons of Blue Lights are available on BBC iPlayer.