The use of drones has been hailed for many years as the next multi-billion dollar industry and technological disruptor. While swarms of drones do not yet blacken our skies, there is evidence that the use of drones is starting to gather pace; Royal Mail post and Covid-19 medical deliveries, the use of drones in the war in Ukraine, and even, the aerial lightshow at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Party, show that drones are becoming more prevalent in the public consciousness. However, the main barrier to much more prolific drone use is the regulatory challenges in flying drones Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). BVLOS is something of a "Holy Grail" for drone operations as it unlocks an immense number of novel business opportunities and means to radically improve efficiency and safety of existing operations. The UK is leading the way in BVLOS operations, with much continued government funding, but although regulations and means of compliance are starting to emerge for aspects of general BVLOS operations, the path to routine commercial operations remains challenging. The risks of BVLOS flights are currently managed by regulators on a case-by-case basis and those operations that have been approved are generally flying in remote geographies away from populated areas, or in segregated airspace specially provisioned for drone flights. This paper explores the challenges and practical realities for BVLOS operations in higher-risk locations, such as urban areas and in controlled and unsegregated airspace, and assesses how stakeholders across the entire ecosystem, from operators through to regulators, are progressing towards making these types of operation more routinely certifiable.