When seasoned actor Adrian Lester first read the script for “Trigger Point”, he was sold.
The “Riviera” star admitted: “I’d never seen anything like it in a drama series on television. I also really wanted to work with Vicky (McClure), plus Jed (Mercurio) and I have been circling around each other for a while - whenever a role came up in one of his shows that I would be applicable for, I wasn’t available to film, but the stars aligned on ‘Trigger Point’.”
He continued: “I really enjoyed acting out all the technical requirements needed to look like a member of a bomb disposal unit.
“We had a couple of sessions with a real expo, where they talked us through loop circuits, trigger points, charge and the detonator. Learning what all these terms meant was fascinating,” Lester said.
The action-packed, six-part series follows a close-knit team from the Metropolitan Police Bomb Disposal Squad as they find themselves in life-and-death situations on a daily basis.
McClure, cast as officer Lana Washington, works alongside Lester, who plays Joel Nutkins. With both of them coming from a military background, having served in Afghanistan, they tackle terrorist threats with the gravitas it deserves, based on their first-hand experience.
The other actors in the cast include Mark Stanley as DI Thom Youngblood, Warren Brown as Karl Maguire, Kerry Godliman as Sonya Reeves, Cal MacAninch as Lee Robins SCO19, Manjinder Virk as Samira Desai SO15 and Ralph Ineson as Commander Bregman.
On sharing the screen with McClure, Lester said: “We hadn’t crossed paths in any way at all really, but we knew of each other’s work. We first met when we were going in for some expo training and advice. Vicky’s just brilliant -- no airs or graces. She is a complete professional who gets the job done.
“She’s a good person to work alongside, and a great team leader. She’s got her eye on every detail; every change in the script has technical and character ramifications for further episodes. She kept the logic clean across all of it, making sure she did the best job possible,” Lester added.
“There were sections of the script where we had the room to improvise, which is always much better than sticking rigidly to dialogue, especially when things become fast-paced, and she was up for it; she was great.”
Expanding on how their characters balance one another, he said: “Nut wants to do things properly, to follow the rules. To be safe and do things by the book.
“Lana can be a little bit of a maverick -- there is a slight tension. You get the sense that he’s a little bit older, he has been doing the job for longer, he goes by the book, whereas she’s impulsive.
“I really enjoyed creating the relationship with Vicky. We wanted to make it clear how well Nut and Lana get on, so we listened to music together, cracked jokes and shared silly dances, just making up stuff to help the piece along.”
He continued: “We were learning little moves and handshakes, some of which transferred onto the screen.
“Nutkins has a sort of gallows humour about him, so we laughed a lot and had a giggle. That energy had to be there to create something really believable, as we gave life to their relationship.
“He is dealing with a difficult situation in his personal life, isn’t he? Yes, he’s got a complex home situation. He and his wife are estranged, but they’re starting to make their relationship work, and he has a daughter too.
“Inside this warm, jokey character there is someone who is sad, who has got complicated personal problems to deal with. There’s a lot more going on there, and you just get a little glimpse of that.”
On him going against the grain with this role, Lester laughed: “I see what you mean. I got cast as the suave, smooth-talking Michael Stone in the BBC drama ‘Hustle’, and once your persona gets cemented in the audience’s minds as a certain kind of character, it’s hard for them to fully accept you doing anything else, which is weird.
“So a lot of my work has been circling that kind of role. I have trained for years in martial arts, and whenever I get the chance, I indoor climb and cycle through London.
“When ‘Trigger Point’ came up, I was happy to jump on board because it’s a very different character. Both Vicky and I speak in our own accents, and there isn’t a shirt or tie in sight.”
The actor says this series is a must-watch for fans who appreciate a tense drama as there are plenty of twists and turns.
“Trigger Point” is streaming on BritBox.