The Line of Duty showrunner promises “high levels of jeopardy” in the ITV thriller.
We’re very intrigued to see Vicky McClure in ITV’s upcoming thriller Trigger Point – especially now Jed Mercurio has teased details of her character, Lana Washington.
The drama comes from Line of Duty showrunner Jed Mercurio’s own production company, HTM Television, and stars McClure as a bomb disposal operative.
“It’s brilliant working with with Vicky again, so soon,” he tells RadioTimes.com. And the shoot itself is “going really, really well. Great cast, really great crew, and it’s coming together extremely well. And Dan Brierley’s scripts are just brilliant.”
As for whether this is a show for the Line of Duty crowd, Mercurio says, “You never know what audience is going to come to a TV show. You just don’t, and you shouldn’t really ever even kid yourself that you can.
“It’s a thriller. And we know how great Vicky is in all the roles she does. And this character of Lana Washington is very different from Kate Fleming.
“But fundamentally, it’s a bomb disposal thriller, and there are high levels of jeopardy. And behind it, there’s a kind of mystery conspiracy thriller. So those are all the elements… We just try to make the best piece of work we can.”
Work hard, Play hard ????
— Vicky McClure (@Vicky_McClure) July 17, 2021
Can’t tell you how much I’m loving making #triggerpoint even if it is boiling hot working the weekend! I love my job ????
SPF people! ????☀️????#lanawashington pic.twitter.com/PGieeloRVm
McClure’s co-star in the “high-octane” six-part drama is Adrian Lester, who plays a fellow bomb disposal operative or “Expo” called Joel Nutkins. Joel and Lana are both ex-military, and are close, having served together in Afghanistan.
ITV tells us that the show “turns the spotlight on counter terrorism policing and the extraordinary work of the Metropolitan Police Bomb Disposal Squad… when a terrorist campaign threatens the capital over the summer, the Expos are at the forefront of urgent efforts to find out who is behind the bombings before fatalities escalate”.
Mercurio is a very busy man at the moment, with his production company’s new drama Stephen set to air on ITV in the autumn, Bloodlands season two due to begin filming early in 2022, Trigger Point currently filming, and a new graphic novel called Sleeper out on 5th August (with a sequel already in the works).
But will he find time to write a seventh season of Line of Duty? No word yet… Mercurio refuses to be drawn.
Sleeper by Jed Mercurio, Prasanna Puwanarajah & Coke Navarro is published on the 5th August (Scribner, £16.99). Trigger Point is coming soon to ITV.
Check out the rest of our Drama coverage, or take a look at our TV Guide to discover what’s on this week.