The first series of Trigger Point was one of the most-watched dramas of 2022 and now Vicky McClure has donned her bomb disposal suit once again to reprise her role as fearless "expo" Lana "Wash" Washington.
Last time we saw her foil a plot by soldier-turned-terrorist Karl Maguire (Warren Brown), but lose her brother Billy (Ewan Mitchell) and best mate Joel Nutkins (Adrian Lester) along the way.
Set six months after the events of the first series, the opening episode of Trigger Point season 2 sees her returning from secondment in Estonia, where she’s been training Ukrainian bomb disposal teams. But it’s not long before she’s back in the thick of the action. Note the whole series is available now as a box set on ITVX.
Here's how the first episode of the second season went down... (contains spoilers)
Who blew up the power station?
The episode opens with Lana arriving in the City of London to give a talk on bomb-related terrorism to the heads of security from a series of major financial institutions. Meanwhile, at a power station on the Isle of Dogs, a worker sneaks away from his colleagues and disables the fail safe relay alarm, before a drone descends to blow up a generator.
Lana isn’t due to return to active service until tomorrow, but after talking to Senior Expo, Hass Rahim, Lana heads straight there as she’s the closest to the blast. Apparently there are another two devices rigged to the power station gates, which are stopping the firefighters getting inside to rescue three trapped shift workers.
While Lana steps up to take a look, her old flame, DCI Thom Youngblood, arrives with his new girlfriend, DS Helen Morgan. Soon Hass turns up with John Hudson, whom Lana is very surprised to see still working as an expo after the part he played in the finale to the last season, where he almost got her killed. When he says hello she completely blanks him.
Lana wants to fire two disruptors at the devices to disarm them, one works, but the second one fails to go off. To make matters worse a 30 second timer has now started on the remaining device. Everyone takes cover, but Lana ignores Hass’s warnings and rushes to replace the disruptor before making another attempt, disarming the device with seconds to spare. It’s brave, but reckless and John cynically asks “who misses a timer?” Zip it mate.
New Metropolitan Police boss, Commander John Francis is on the scene and gets a full debrief from Hass. He wants to know if Lana is in a fit state to work and why they have an expo on their team who helped orchestrate the last bombing campaign. Fair questions tbqh.
Meanwhile, Lana says hello to DI Youngblood, who dodges the question when she asks if he’s seeing anyone. It looks like he still has feelings for her, although Hass quickly bursts that bubble by telling Lana that Thom and DI Morgan are now an item.
Later on we find that two of the shift workers we saw in the opening scene died, while one — Joe Hansen — survived. We reckon he’s the one who set the bomb, but he’s in “no fit state to be interviewed”. To make matters worse, the CCTV footage of the station from 6 pm is missing. “They could have been hacked,” says DS Morgan.
Before long there’s a link all over the web showing drone footage of the explosion, followed by the message “We’re taking back the power for the people”. But who is this terrorist group and what do they want?
Does Lana still love Thom?
Luckily for the police, a member of the public spotted someone launching a drone at Crayford Place, an abandoned multi-storey car park in East London, and everyone heads there to investigate. As they prepare to go in, Danny tells Lana he doesn’t like John and was lumbered with him. That’s cool, but it doesn’t explain why he’s letting him plan his stag do!
On the way up the stairs, Lana finally grills John, who refuses to apologise and says the team’s been getting on fine without her. “You’re still f**ked. I know it and so do they.” he says. Meanwhile, back at HQ, news comes through that the tip-off about the car park came from a burner phone purchased yesterday, meaning it’s almost certainly a trap.
On the 11th storey an officer steps on a pressure plate bomb and detonates a bomb, killing him and John Hudson — which is no great loss. However, seconds later, DCI Thom Youngblood steps on a device - and he would be a great loss!
Lana makes her way across to Thom, who’s standing just a few feet away from DI Morgan. If he removes his foot then they’ll all be killed in the blast for sure. Further examination reveals there are pressure plates everywhere, but DS Morgan manages to get to the stairwell without activating any of them.
As Hass comforts DI Morgan, Lana works on the pressure plate, although she needs to reassure a terrified DCI Youngblood. He tells Lana to leave and save herself, but she refuses and tells him she knows what she’s doing. “I’m not going to let you die because I love you! I always have and I always will!” says Lana.
After calming him down she eventually manages to defuse the bomb and in the emotion of the situation, he kisses her on the lips. It’s a moving moment and one that no one else witnesses.
Or so they think, because at that moment a drone armed with explosives arrives and seems ready to attack. However, Thom rushes past all the pressure pads, grabs a machine gun and shoots it down. Yet the drone has been streaming the whole event live on the web, with the message “Who are they protecting, the police are your enemy”. It also means Lana and Thom’s kiss won’t stay a secret for long.
Meanwhile, police spot someone they suspect of being the drone operator on top of a nearby building, but who is it and what do they want?
