Highlight of the week An explosive new drama
Action-packed series comes to ITV on Sunday night
Vicky McClure and Adrian Lester star in new ITV drama Trigger Point which turns the spotlight on counter terrorism policing and the extraordinary work of the Metropolitan Police Bomb Disposal Squad. Written by Daniel Brierley, Trigger Point, is a high-octane six-part thriller series which focuses on the officers who risk their lives daily on ‘the long walk’ towards danger. For them, death is always just a heartbeat away.
Vicky McClure (Line of
Duty, I Am Nicola) plays front line officer Lana Washington, who is an experienced bomb disposal operative, known as an ‘Expo’ and Adrian Lester (Life, Trauma) plays Joel Nutkins, who works alongside her. Both ex-military, the pair are close, having served together in Afghanistan.
In the middle of a summer heatwave,the pair are called out to a Metropolitan Police counterterrorism operation at a London housing estate to investigate a potential bomb factory and a suspected bomb maker, Andy Phelan.
There is no sign of the bomb maker, but his wife and young
Trigger Point daughter have been restrained and his wife forced to call in the bomb threat. She is now fearful for her husband’s safety. The assailants broke in using Phelan’s keys, which are now missing, leading to a race against time to locate Phelan and his vehicle.
Washington and Nutkins successfully defuse an improvised explosive device, but its complexity suggests they’re dealing with sophisticated terrorists. Until the suspect is located and detained, EXPO remain on high alert.
As the police evacuate residents from the estate, EXPO find evidence of an even deadlier terrorist threat and must work against the clock to save as many lives as possible.
Jed Mercurio executive produces the drama.
Star Vicky McClure told us: “Physically, it was a challenging job - when you see me running from a bomb I haven’t just done it once, there have been many takes! People will tell you that I’m not a gym fanatic by any stretch of the imagination, so when I’m out of puff on screen that’sgenuine. Another challenge was that the drama was set in a heatwave. I expected it to be boiling in London over the summer, but it was one of the worst summers ever after an initial bit of sun! That didn’t go in our favour, but luckily we had incredible people around us that could make it feel like a boiling hot summer’s day when it wasn’t - that’s film-making!
“It was an incredible job and I’m really proud of it. It was a brilliant cast of people and the crew really did look after each other. It was a tough shoot and there were a lot of elements to get right, building a whole new world. I have never been on a job quite that big, which I suppose would shock people, because you think Line of Duty is the same.”
ITV, Sunday, 9pm