Missing Line Of Duty? Viewers hail Jed Mercurio ‘brilliant’ new series Tipping Point

He kept viewers on the edge of their seats with smash hit show Line Of Duty, and creator Jed Mercurio looks set for similar success with Trigger Point, his follow-up anti-terrorist police drama which premiered on ITV last night.  

Viewers hailed the first episode ‘a must-watch’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘simply outstanding’ in enthusiastic tweets, while TV critics, including the Daily Mail’s Christopher Stevens, have given the show five-star reviews.  

Fans of Mercurio’s work were delighted the episode ended in one of his stunning signature plot twists – and to see Line Of Duty star Vicky McClure back on screen as a no-nonsense police officer, this time as explosives operative Lana Washington.

Viewers hailed the first episode of ITV’s Trigger Point ‘a must-watch’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘simply outstanding’ in enthusiastic tweets, while TV critics, including the Daily Mail’s Christopher Stevens, have given the show five-star reviews. Star Vicky McClure (pictured) impressed

Fans of Mercurio's work were delighted the episode ended in one of his stunning signature plot twists - and to see Line Of Duty star Vicky McClure back on screen as a no-nonsense police officer, this time as explosives operative Lana Washington (pictured)

Fans of Mercurio’s work were delighted the episode ended in one of his stunning signature plot twists – and to see Line Of Duty star Vicky McClure back on screen as a no-nonsense police officer, this time as explosives operative Lana Washington (pictured)

Viewers said they were left on the edge of their seats after the twist at the end of the episode

Viewers said they were left on the edge of their seats after the twist at the end of the episode

One tweeted: ‘OMFG #TriggerPoint brilliant. Must-watch. Vicky McClure acting royalty and brilliant Jed Mercurio’s fingerprints are all over it. Raw, explosive televisual experience that rings true. Britain sadly used to terrorism. They hate us because we’re better. They’ll never beat us.’

Another added: ‘ #TriggerPoint I was waiting for it! Then when it happened I think the whole street could hear me! Brilliant stuff @Vicky_McClure loved it!’

A third posted: ‘Wow bloody hell that was intense from start to finish. An absolute must watch. Brilliant #TriggerPoint.’

The episode started with Washington ‘Wash’ and her ‘Expo’ partner Joel Nutkins (Adrian Lester) bursting into a terror cell’s bomb factory and rescuing a mother and daughter who had been held at gunpoint. 

The situation was tense from the start, with their police colleagues struggling to keep the crowd back and maintain a cordon around the flat.

Inside, ‘Wash’ and ‘Nut’ located a bomb in the bathroom and inadvertently landed themselves in mortal danger when Wash placed her hand on the light switch, which had been re-routed as a trigger.

The episode started with Washington 'Wash' and her 'Expo' partner Joel Nutkins (Adrian Lester), pictured, bursting into a terror cell's bomb factory and rescuing a mother and daughter who had been held at gunpoint

The episode started with Washington ‘Wash’ and her ‘Expo’ partner Joel Nutkins (Adrian Lester), pictured, bursting into a terror cell’s bomb factory and rescuing a mother and daughter who had been held at gunpoint

Viewers praised the 'amazing' episode and said they're looking forward to next week

Viewers praised the ‘amazing’ episode and said they’re looking forward to next week

Next the team spotted a suspected explosive device underneath a car. When the exploratory robot broke, Wash took it upon herself to carry out a nerve-wracking manual check.  

A hostage was discovered in the boot, with a hood over his head and a bomb strapped to his chest.  

‘I need you to stay really, really still for me please,’ Wash shouted, as the desperate hostage hopped towards her. ‘Remove the hood as slowly as you can.’ 

She put herself into the line of danger to dismantle the bomb and free the victim. The explosives officers believed the scene was secure and the cordon was lifted.  

But, in the final moments of the episode, a third bomb that had been planted in the back of a van was detonated, causing a massive explosion. 

Wash (McClure) took it upon herself to dismantle a bomb when the robot (pictured) stalled

Wash (McClure) took it upon herself to dismantle a bomb when the robot (pictured) stalled

The victim had been left in a car boot with a bomb strapped around his waist, pictured

The victim had been left in a car boot with a bomb strapped around his waist, pictured 

It was a white-knuckle moment as Washington defused the bomb by hand, pictured

It was a white-knuckle moment as Washington defused the bomb by hand, pictured

Wash was able to crawl away from the tragedy but her partner, Nut, lost his arm – and presumably his life – in the blast.  

The moment left viewers ‘jumping out of their skin’, with one tweeting: ‘I knew there was going to be an explosion but f. me that made me jump #TriggerPoint.’  

However the twists and turns were not enough to impress all viewers, some panned the programme as ‘disappointing’ and ‘not worth the hype’. 

One posted: ‘Watched that new itv drama last night “Trigger Point”. Anyone else think it was pretty disappointing ? #TriggerPoint.’

Another wrote: ‘Well that was disappointing, should have known it was going to be rubbish: trying to turn on light! Try car door handles before checking underneath, ignore orders. Take helmet off when approaching possible suicide bomber! oh and the “matey banter” #TriggerPoint.’

Another tweet read: ‘Disappointing after all the hype #TriggerPoint in my opinion. Hopefully it will get better. I’m no bomb disposal expert, but flicking on light switches, nearly.! Seems amateurish.’

Explosive: The episode ended with a blast that is thought to have claimed Joel Nutkins' life

Explosive: The episode ended with a blast that is thought to have claimed Joel Nutkins’ life

However the twists and turns were not enough to impress all viewers, some panned the programme as 'disappointing' and 'not worth the hype'

However the twists and turns were not enough to impress all viewers, some panned the programme as ‘disappointing’ and ‘not worth the hype’

Now that’s explosive! Vicky McClure has a blast in the line of duty: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews new ITV police drama Trigger Point

Trigger Point ITV, last night 

Rating:

That ending came as a seismic shock. Anyone gripped by the first hour of Trigger Point (ITV) couldn’t help leaping out of their skin at the climax.

We should have been expecting it – this anti-terrorist police drama is produced by Jed Mercurio, the writer who had Call The Midwife’s Jessica Raine pushed out of a window in her first (and last) episode of Line Of Duty.

Mercurio specialises in stunning plot twists. No spoilers for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, but episode one ends with an eye-popper.

I was already dripping with nervous sweat after a series of high-tension set pieces as police ‘Expo’ explosives officers Then came the biggest surprise, and I was left lying in a puddle on the floor.

‘The art is in making the twists as unexpected as possible,’ says Mercurio, and no one does it better.

Throughout the episode a roiling undercurrent of unrest kept us on edge as officers struggled to maintain a cordon and keep the public back. The action took place during an inner-city heatwave, with the crowd lobbing water bottles like grenades at police.

McClure, best-known as Line Of Duty’s DI Kate Fleming, is far cooler as Expo Lana Washington than an anti-corruption detective. With her face scoured of make-up and her hair scraped up into a topknot, she wears her mirror sunglasses with rock-star swagger. In moments away from the action, she turns up the car radio and headbangs to heavy metal.

Wash’s partner and former Army comrade Joel Nutkins is more experienced and less reckless. It’s Wash who almost blows them to kingdom come by reaching for a light switch in the bomb-maker’s tower block flat – and it’s Wash who discards her helmet before stepping forward to deal with a suspected car bomb.

Incredibly, that detail is drawn from life. A real-life bomb squad expert advised McClure to discard the headgear: ‘That felt like absolute madness,’ she says. ‘But the Expo explained to me that it could impair your vision, or it could knock the device if it slipped, so you need to take it off.’

There’s an instant rapport between Lana and Joel. He carries her ‘lucky wirecutters’ for her, she teases him that their bosses don’t trust him to do a job without her.

After one miraculous escape, she blurts, ‘I love you,’ and he retorts, ‘I love you too, mate – just not to bits.’

In their private lives, his marriage is falling apart. She’s dating a senior officer, played by Mark Stanley. Cops in Mercurio dramas always call each other ‘mate’. That’s not fooling anyone. The big unanswered question is whether Wash and Nut have ever been to bed together.

Washer, Nut… surely those names are a hint by writer Daniel Brierley that the two are physically close. How much more obvious could he make it, without calling them ‘Screw’ and ‘Driver’?

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