What happened in Trigger Point season 1?

Series two of the bomb disposal thriller series Trigger Point is about to drop on ITV, following up a debut outing that became the best-performing drama of 2022, racking up a massive 9.5 viewer eyeballs per episode.

Written and created by Daniel Brierley, the show stars This is England actor Vicky McClure as Lana Washington, an Afghan war veteran and bomb disposal expert operating in central London. Working with the Metropolitan police bomb squad, she’s responsible for stopping terrorist threats before they happen - but in ITV’s latest series, Lana inadvertently finds herself in the middle of one such attack, forcing her to act fast to prevent future chaos.

While we wait for an official air date for Trigger Point season two to arrive, here’s a quick round-up of everything that happened in the show’s first batch of episodes.

When does Trigger Point season 2 start?

Trigger Point series 2 starts on Sunday, 28 January at 9pm on ITV and ITVX. While plot specifics are still under lock and key, a short teaser trailer was released in December 2023 which gave us a look at Lana Washington back in action.

The first series of Trigger Point started in late January 2022 and was a quick hit with viewers. A second series got the go-ahead almost immediately, with ITV giving Trigger Point series two the green light in February 2022.

What happened in Trigger Point season one?

In Trigger Point’s first series, we were introduced to McClure’s leading lady Lana with series writer Brierley wasting no time in amping up the tension. During a sizzling London heatwave, Lana and her explosive expert colleagues are sent out to investigate what they believe to be a bomb factory but instead, it turns out to be the beginning of a larger terrorist threat.

Ultimately Lana and her team stop the threat but not without suffering a few team casualties. Days afterwards, fall out from the bombing is felt by Lana and her bomb disposal colleagues while far-right extremists appear determined to blame Islamists for the incident. This theory is quickly squashed when a new threat is discovered at a mosque with a bomb attached to a door behind which lies an innocent bystander.

The body count rises while Lana deals with this new explosive but by the time episode three has finished, she has learned that the type of explosives being used are made from a rare material that may help her team track down the person behind them. She also discovers that the bombings are supposedly being helmed by a far-right extremist group calling themselves The Crusaders.

Before this can new lead be fully explored, another bomb is discovered - this time at an LGTB bar and with a mystery sniper adding to the trouble. The threat is once again subdued but the bomber manages to escape police custody.

Meanwhile, suspicions as to who the bomber is begin to run rife, with Lana starting to suspect a member of her team when she discovers a map in the locker of a colleague which has the bombing locations highlighted. Soon, Lana’s brother Billy (Ewan Mitchell) gets embroiled in the action when he suddenly goes missing and is later found to have ties to The Crusaders. This link is dismissed when Billy discovers a bomb in the glove box of his car - one that ultimately takes his life.

As Trigger Point’s first series reached its climax, yet another bomb was discovered, this time at the University of South London. Whilst attempting to diffuse it, police identify the bomber but he escapes once more. The team then discover an attack targeting a by-election event during which Lana’s friend and ex-military colleague Karl Maguire (Warren Brown) reveals himself to be the mystery bomber, with an active bomb attached to his chest that he threatens to detonate.

Maguire explains that his motive for carrying out the bombings is revenge for the cover-up of an ambush attack that took place in Afghanistan. However, he is taken out before he can detonate his latest device, putting a stop to the bombing spree.

Trigger Point series 2 starts on Sunday, 28 January at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.