7 secrets from the set Trigger Point

TRIGGER POINT SUNDAY / ITV / 9PM / EP 5 of 6 / DRAMA

- SEAN MARLAND

1 Local support

The action-packed opening episode was all set around the (fictional) Westhaven Estate in London, after explosives officer – or ‘expo’ – Lana Washington (Vicky McClure) and her team were called to a block of flats following reports of a suspected bomb factory.

It became the site of the first denotation, with Lana’s colleague Joel Nutkins (Adrian Lester) among the fatalities.

‘We shot these scenes on the South Kilburn housing estate in north-west London, and I hired someone to befriend people before we arrived to film,’ says producer Julia Stannard, in an exclusive interview with TV Times.

‘They chatted to locals and the residents’ association to explain what we were going to do and, thankfully, the local community really welcomed us after that. All the extras in that episode are real-life residents and others helped us by providing security and being crowd marshals.’

2 The real explosion

The climax to episode one saw Joel die in the line of duty after he went to check on a suspicious van that was rigged with explosives.

‘The van bomb was a real explosion,’ says Julia. ‘We were given a 30-minute window to set it off, and we had to let all the residents, the local council and Transport for London know what was going to happen and when, otherwise people would have thought it was happening for real!’

3 Special effects