Explosives Officer Lana Washington is set to face some daunting times in Trigger Point’s third series as Vicky McClure teases another high-stakes season for the ITV hit series.
Trigger Point is back on ITV for a third season
Vicky McClure promises more adrenaline, danger and depth in the explosive third series of Trigger Point – but her alter ego Lana is set for a gruelling addiction and PTSD battle.
“It’s more exciting,” she says, “We made it bigger. We’ve got new cast members. People that weren’t on series two were really excited to be on the show.”
This year, the hit ITV show doesn’t just go bigger – it gets bolder. “We’re moving with the times,” Vicky McClure adds, “We’re making sure that it feels epic.”
Once again, the Line Of Duty star returns as bomb disposal expert Lana Washington – while also taking the reins as an executive producer.
Series three opens with a nerve-wrecking emergency: Lana is called to a wasteland where a man is trapped inside a taxi. A sign nearby orders him to “confess” to a mysterious crime – or die trying to escape.
What first appears as a one-off hostage crisis quickly spirals. As panic builds up, Lana realises she’s hunting a serial perpetrator. New actors have joined the line-up. Lost Kingdom star Mark Rowley plays Rich Manning, and Primeval actor Jason Flemyng is villain Steven Wyles.
“I always play a lot of baddies and I look like a baddie but the truth is he’s another little man that is fighting the system and that has been hard done by,” Jason says.
“He’s had enough of the capitalist system putting profit before people. He takes retribution.” The villain quickly develops a complicated bond with Lana.
“She’s not battling him, it’s just that he’s breaking the law and doing something which puts other people in danger. That’s the essence of that relationship,” Jason says.
Their bond culminates in a brutal face-off – one Jason vividly remembers. “We shot in this town hall in Wembley and we parked underneath it,” he says.
“I went to see Oasis recently and went to the town hall because that’s where Vicky and I had a fight. I parked right outside because I knew the town hall.”
This season also digs deeper into Lana’s personal trauma. After surviving a kidnapping by a terrorist group in season two, she’s still grappling with the aftermath.
“When we first started talking about series three, we wanted to touch on PTSD for sure and how that was for Lana,” Vicky says. “It’s so unique to everybody. We all know Lana’s lost a lot of people close to her throughout the series. There’s no way that’s not going to have an effect on her.”
The emotional toll takes unexpected forms. “We’ll see Lana going through an addiction while she’s working and how she handles that, who picks up on it,” Vicky teases, “She’s incredible but she’s also human. She makes a lot of mistakes. That’s the downfall of being a heroic character.”
Vicky also gets an upgrade – literally. “We’ve had three different bomb suits now,” Vicky says, “This was the lighter version and it was still bloody heavy . It was much easier to walk in.”
Despite the physical and emotional intensity, Vicky thrives on bringing Lana’s vulnerability to the surface. “It’s been nice because Lana’s having to lean more on other people,” she says.
“There’s a much closer knit between the EXPOs (Explosive Officers),” she adds, crediting former British Army bomb disposal expert Joel Snarr for his insight. “There’s a lot of life in it. It feels real. We’re trying to get into the mentality of an expo and speaking to people like Joel, you get that.”
Even the smallest details matter to Vicky. “One thing that drives me nuts is watching people drink tea on telly without tea or (carrying) bags without anything in them,” she says, “I’ve got this bag on my back every day, so I fill it with anything that Lana needs. I feel like I’ve got the weight of Lana on me.”
She even recalls a particularly funny moment on set. “They’d made a foam breezeblock for me. I know I’m 42 and cracking on but I can still pick up a breezeblock,” she says.
“Cut to take five and I was like, ‘what the hell did I choose the real one for?’ But the foam one looked terrible. After Trigger Point, I feel fit as a fiddle, which is rare for me because I’m not a massive fan of the gym. I went there once this year.”
Production for series three rolled straight into filming for series four, after ITV swiftly renewed the drama. The cast and crew spent a total of nine months shooting in London. “We just strap in and get the job done,” says Vicky.”
The sitcom star is thought to split his time between London and a quaint Scottish village, with which he has a ‘very special relationship’
The actor has a real fondness for Scotland(Image: Getty)
A tiny Scottish village captured the heart of Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne. Worlds away from the Essex residence of his character in the beloved television programme, the 46-year-old actor is previously thought to have abandoned city life and relocated to Helmsdale on the eastern coastline of Sutherland.
Hailing originally from Nottingham, the sitcom star, who has also featured in the Catherine Tate Show and Dad’s Army, was believed to divide his time between his working commitments in London and a calmer, more serene lifestyle in the picturesque yet isolated village.
Discussing his passion for the Highlands, Horne previously revealed on That Gaby Roslin podcast that he “would very much like to live there. I am all things Scotophile.”
During another interview, the actor told the Sunday Post, calling Scotland “the best country in the world. My shoulders drop and I feel free. It is where my heart lies and hopefully one day I will have a place of my own there so I can retreat as and when I need to.”
He added: “I love the peace and tranquillity and the people. The food is wonderful, the weather is nowhere near as bad as everybody says and midges don’t like me, so that’s good.
“Most of my downtime when I’m not working is now spent in Scotland.”
Helmsdale, a picturesque village on the North Coast 500 (NC500) route, offers a breathtaking 516-mile journey through the stunning beauty of the Scottish Highlands, reports the Daily Record.
Chatting with the Sunday Post, he shared: “I have a very special relationship with Helmsdale. It’s partly because of discovering it when I was in the Highlands because of my ancestry through my great-great-grandparents who were from Huntly.”
He further added: “That makes me one-eighth Scottish, although I wish I was more.”
The village’s roots can be traced back to 1814 and are deeply intertwined with the 19th-century herring boom, which brought prosperity to many coastal Scottish communities.
The once bustling harbour still remains in use by local fishermen and is a favourite spot for a scenic walk. Nearby, there’s a small shingle beach offering incredible views across the Moray Firth.
The village is also home to the Emigrants statue. A poignant reminder of the town’s darker past, the landmark pays tribute to those who were forced to leave their homes and travel far and wide to start a new life.
Today’s visitors can drop by The Timespan Heritage Centre, a popular community hub that houses not only a local history museum but also a contemporary art programme, herb gardens, a shop, a bakery and a cafe.
Helmsdale could also be the ideal location for those partial to a drink or two. The charming village is conveniently located near the Old Pulteney, Clynelish, Glenmorangie and Dornoch Distilleries.
Mathew also previously named Glasgow as his ‘favourite city’ and has a special fondness for the city of Edinburgh, where he first made his comedy debut at the Fringe Festival in 2000.
All Creatures Great and Small star Callum Woodhouse has opened up about his favourite moment from filming season six of the Channel 5 drama, which is set to return later this month
Tristan Farnon and James Herriot
All Creatures Great and Small makes its comeback to Channel 5 with series six later this month, and the cast have been revealing some of their most cherished moments from filming.
The upcoming series sees the return of Tristan Farnon (portrayed by Callum Woodhouse), as he enjoys time away from his duties with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps.
Prior to the new series launching on September 25, actor Woodhouse chatted exclusively to Reach publications about his most treasured behind-the-scenes memory.
During shooting of the opening episode at Beamish Museum close to County Durham, which serves as a stand-in for Sunderland, he found himself transported back to his youth.
The performer revealed: “I used to go there a lot with my parents when I was younger as I’m from up that way, so I was always dragging them every other weekend to wander around those streets.”
“So to find myself 20 years later filming this TV show on those streets, and my parents came down for the day and were watching me film in this place that we used to wander around and go to the sweet shop, that was one of my most special days of the series.”
The actor’s relatives are massive admirers of the programme, and in an earlier chat, he disclosed how they would frequently view episodes repeatedly.
He revealed: “Especially when it’s airing, they will watch it at 9pm on Channel 5 and then at 10pm they will switch over to Channel 5 +1 and will immediately watch the episode again.
“It’s really sweet but also I’m like ‘Guys, do something else with your lives’.”
All Creatures Great and Small season 6 is back soon
James Herriot star Nicholas Ralph also spoke to Reach titles about one of his standout moments from filming series six.
He recalled shooting in Yockenthwaite, which serves as Heston Grange, adding: “It’s out in the middle of the Dales, you need satellite phones there as there’s no signal.
“It’s in the absolute sticks. We were filming but it was raining sideways and I had a little brolly up, and vans were coming because they do tours of the Dales now.
“They were stopping every now and then, and one was slightly bigger and about 12 people in ponchos jumped out of this bus and were like ‘we love you guys’.
“They they all went back on the bus and they racked on the All Creatures theme tune, they jumped out and were dancing in the rain.
“I asked where they were from and they said Brazil. We had some wonderful fan interactions.”
All Creatures Great and Small returns to Channel 5 on September 25 at 9pm
It’s been 20 years since Dan Biddle fatefully missed his stop on the Circle Line train. Twenty years since Mohammad Sidique Khan looked him in the eye and reached inside his backpack. And 20 years since Dan’s cosy happy life was, quite literally, blown apart.
16:16, 03 Jul 2025Updated 16:18, 03 Jul 2025
It’s been 20 years since Dan Biddle fatefully missed his stop on the Circle Line train. Twenty years since Mohammad Sidique Khan looked him in the eye and reached inside his backpack. And 20 years since Dan’s cosy happy life was, quite literally, blown apart.
On Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be among 400 people in St Paul’s Cathedral paying their respects to the 52 killed and more than 770 injured in the London suicide bombings of July 7, 2005.
But for Dan – 7/7’s most severely-injured survivor – the day will also mark another anniversary. It’s been 19 years since Dan left hospital and he’s been fighting for an inquiry into what was known. He and countless others want and need answers.
Now instead of tears and platitudes from Britain’s great and the good on Monday, Dan, who can be seen in new Netflix series Attack on London Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, is calling on Starmer to put right what Tony Blair once did wrong – and finally grant the 7/7 victims their long called-for public inquiry.
Dan Biddle lost both his legs during the terror attack(Image: Supplied)
He says: “We don’t need tears. We don’t need platitudes. We need our public inquiry. And we need answers to the questions we still have. It’s been 20 years – Now is the time to do it.”
Meanwhile there’s one person Dan won’t be wanting to speak with, if, as expected, he attends: Tony Blair. He was prime minister at the time of the attack and blocked the initial plea for an independent public inquiry. The War in Iraq was also cited as one of the motivations for the bloodbath in the bombers’ confession videos.
“I don’t think I could sit in a room with him [Blair] and not use a large amount of expletives, because the anger is always there,” explains Dan, now 46. “I firmly believe 7/7 could have been prevented, and I’ve got to live it with that knowledge. And I cannot believe Blair would be so naive to think that if we go to war, there’s not going to be repercussions in this country. When I think of the money he earns giving talks about it”
Casualties of the London terrorist bombing attack (Image: Mirrorpix)
The 46-year-old first renewed appeals for Starmer to reconsider an inquiry through the Mirror last month. But he’s vowed to keep on asking.
Hundreds of families were affected that day in 2005 when four suicide bombers, led by primary school assistant Mohammad Sidique Khan unleashed the deadliest terror attacks in Britain since Lockerbie.
Armed with backpacks filled with homemade explosives, Khan, 30, and Shehzad Tanweer, 22, both from Beeston, Leeds, and father-of-one Germaine Lindsay, 19, from Aylesbury, Bucks, boarded three morning rush hour tube trains. Around 8.49am they set off the explosives on circle line trains near Edgware Road and Russell Square stations and a Piccadilly Line train near Aldgate station, killing six, seven and 26.
A fourth bomber, Hasib Hussain, 18, also from Leeds, detonated his device an hour later on the top deck of the Number 30 bus, which had been diverted via Tavistock Square, killing 13. It’s believed his device initially failed.
Dan Biddle and his wife Jem, who live in Abergavenny(Image: Wales on Sunday)
On the morning of July 7 2005, Dan boarded a circle line train towards Edgware Road, a 26-year-old 6ft4in football-mad construction manager. Then in a flash of the explosion, everything changed. Dan lost both legs, an eye and his spleen and had a pole speared through his abdomen after being one to the victims of the Edgware Road blast.
He perforated his colon, burst his eardrum, lacerated his liver, was covered in burns and spent eight weeks in a coma. He now faces a daily battle with Complex PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, and survivor’s guilt.
Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the suicide bombers(Image: Getty)
It later emerged Khan was known to intelligence services but was not considered a high priority. The Government’s internal 2009 Intelligence and Security Committee review concluded the decision was “understandable” given “the information available” at the time.
Dan and Adrian Heili, the hero Army medic who saved his life against the odds that day, meanwhile maintain there are still vital questions not answered by either the committee’s 2009 report, their earlier report in 2006 or indeed, the latter 2011 Coroner’s Inquest, which identified a number of failures and missed opportunities by MI5 – but ultimately ruled they would not have prevented 7/7.
Former construction manager Dan says: “The inquest was more about ascertaining time of death, place of death, perpetrator, that type of thing. A public inquiry looks at what was known. It looks at ‘was there any point where there could have been an intervention to stop it’?”
Unanswered questions remain that Dan can’t ignore(Image: Press Association)
“The guy that did this is dead. I don’t get a trial. I don’t get my day in court. But why can’t we have the same disclosure around what led up to 7/7 as other atrocities got?”
Dan has a long list of questions, including: how long Khan was on MI5’s radar, why a telephone recording discussing an attack was not acted upon and why Khan was not made a high priority, despite alleged photos of him at a suspected extremist training camp. It was also reported that the US National Security Agency had looked into disturbing emails from Khan the year before the attacks. These are just a few of many.
“A public inquiry won’t give me my legs back,” says Dan, now an accessibility consultant in Abergavenny. “It won’t give me my eye back. But I’d have a sense of justice that somebody has been held accountable.
“Some 52 people lost their lives, why doesn’t that warrant one[an inquiry]? Jean Charles de Menezes was tragically shot a couple of weeks after 7/7, he got a public inquiry. Why is his one life worth more than 52? If they really think it’s not possible, then please just explain to me why – and I’ll get back in my box.”
Dan is pleading for a public inquiry(Image: Humphrey Nemar)
Dan has recently spent days reviewing all the previous Government reports line by line while writing his first book Back From the Dead, which was released in June.
The 2006 Intelligence and Security Committee Report had originally been sent to Dan while he was still in hospital. It came with a covering letter from the then-Committee chairman The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP. It referred to the attacks of “July 7, 2006.”
“Talk about adding insult to literal injury,” says Dan, who married the love of his life Gem, 42, in 2015. “How can you put much credence in the report if they can’t even get the date of the attack right?”
A public inquiry could also be a financial lifeline to those, like Dan, with life-changing injuries. Dan received just shy of £116,000 from the Government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
It’s a fund which gives a standardised payout, calculated by which body part is injured, to all victims of violent crime, with no regard as to whether it was a street mugging or a terror attack. Dan says he was also instructed he could only claim for three injuries.
He says an inquest simply isn’t enough
“The money’s gone,” he says. “It barely lasted five years.”
If an inquiry found anyone was to blame, it could open up an avenue for victims to receive extra compensation.
Meanwhile Dan admits the thought of Blair earning north of £100,000 for speaking engagements about his time as prime minister – including the War in Iraq – is particularly painful. “I think he’s disgraceful,” says Dan.
In one final plea to the dignitaries who’ll be attending on Monday, Dan adds: “I’m not a stupid man. I knew that getting blown up, life was going to be tough. But I didn’t think it would be unjust.”
The Home Office has no current plans to hold a public inquiry.
Complete timeline of how the 7/7 bombings unfolded
*Around 8:49 a.m Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Germaine Lindsay, 19, detonated homemade devices on Circle Line trains between Edgware Road and Paddington and Liverpool Street and Aldgate, and a Piccadilly Line train between King’s Cross St Pancras and Russell Square. They killed six, seven and 26.
*At 9.47am Hasib Hussain, 18, detonated a device, believed to have earlier failed, on the top deck of the Number 30 bus outside the British Medical Association HQ in Tavistock Square.
*All but Lindsay were British-born, from Beeston, Leeds. Jamaican-born Lindsay, an Islam convert, lived with his then-pregnant wife in Aylesbury, Bucks. She was later revealed to be the ‘White Widow’, Samantha Lewthwaite, an alleged member of Somalia ’s radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab.
7/7 bombers, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Mohammad Sidique Khan(Image: PA)
*Video confessions later saw the bombers citing the War in Afghanistan and Iraq as one of their motivations. The Met Police’s Operation Trident collected more than 2,500 pieces of evidence. There was further tragedy at Stockwell Tube on 21/7 when Brazilian student Jean Charles De Menezes, 27, was mistaken for a suspect in a feared follow up attack and shot dead by police
*A 2006 Initial Intelligence and Security Committee Report finds no evidence MI5 could have prevented the attacks.
During a separate trial regarding a foiled fertiliser bomb plot, it was revealed Khan and Tanweer had been tracked by MI5 for a time during 2004, but it was decided they were not a priority.
Dan’s new book tells his story
The then Home Secretary John Reid refused a public inquiry into what had been known, saying it would be a “massive diversion of resources” from the security services’ operations. Some 25 7/7 Families start legal proceedings to force a public inquiry.
*Reid authorises the subsequent 2009 IASC report which also concluded 7/7 could not have been prevented.
* David Cameron becomes Prime Minister and grants the seven-month Coroner’s Inquest, overseen by Lady Justice Hallett, with a more limited scope of inquiry. In 2011, after seven months of evidence, she made nine recommendations to the Home Office, Security Services and Emergency Services. She also concluded MI5 could not have prevented it and rules against a public inquiry as it would add further distress to the families.
*The 25 Families drop their legal suit for an inquiry immediately after the inquest report. They make it clear they still have unanswered questions but fear their emotionally-draining legal action is futile.
* Various news organisations report on allegations that Khan visited a Pakistan Al-Qaeda training camp as well as military training camps in Dubai and that The US’s NSA had intercepted alarming emails from him the year before the attacks.
*Dan maintains several key questions around how long Khan was on their radar, why a telephone recording discussing an attack was not acted upon and why Khan was not made a high priority, despite alleged photos at a training camp.
Back From The Dead: The Untold Story of the 7/7 Bombings by Dan Biddle with Douglas Thompson, by Mirror Books hardback, £20, is out Thursday. Buy here
In the final episode of ITV’s DNA Journey, best friends Marvin Humes and Sam Thompson make some revealing discoveries…
Sam Thompson and Marvin Humes on ITV’s DNA Journey(Image: ITV)
Marvin Humes discovers his ancestor had a secret second family while his best mate Sam Thompson finds out that his ‘posh’ background is completely fake, in a revelatory episode of DNA Journey.
Close friends since meeting in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! two years ago, the loveable pair of presenters are shocked by the discoveries on the ITV hit ancestry show, airing on Thursday. They begin in Jamaica, where Marvin also finds out that he owes his life to a strong woman who made a massive sacrifice. Marvin says: “I’ve got a rich heritage of culture from Jamaica in my family. My grandparents were both born here. My Grandma Ruby and Grandpa Randall moved to the UK when they had just got married. We would eat fish and dumplings and Saturday soup.”
In Jamaica, Marvin finds out that his Great Grandma Blanche was not actually married to his Great Grandfather David James. They had four children, but immediately after the fourth, Marvin’s Grandma Ruby, was born in 1930, David James left. Historian Diane tells Marvin: “A soon as Ruby was born, David James left for a family he had concurrently along with Blanche.” Marvin says: “I know that on my Grandfather Randall’s side, his father did the same thing. His mum ended up in a mental hospital in Jamaica, called Bellevue, where she died.”
Marvin and Sam begin their journey in Jamaica(Image: ITV)
Blanche, however, was not broken. She went into domestic service and worked hard, then stood at the pier at Kingston Harbour in 1958 and waved off Ruby and her husband Randall so they could find a new life in the UK as part of the Windrush generation. Ruby and Randall couldn’t afford the fare for their three children, so Blanche stepped up to care for them, and went back to work to save up the money to send them to Britain. She knew when she waved goodbye to her daughter in 1958, as she set sail to join Randall who left first, that she’d never see her again.
Overwhelmed with emotion, Marvin says: “I can only think of myself as a parent, it’s heartbreaking to think she’d never see her again. Without this happening in 1958, I wouldn’t be standing here today. She’s the reason. All my family back home in England, we all owe everything to her, for that sacrifice she made on this pier.”
Meanwhile, Sam flies into a panic when he is told he has an ancestor who spent time in Jamaica. “It doesn’t sounds good, don’t say it..” he says. However, he is relieved to learn there is no slavery connection. Charles Thompson, his four times Great Grandfather, a Lieutenant Colonel, was posted in Jamaica before being called to Europe where he played a vital role in the downfall of Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo. “Oh my God, I’m so happy, you really scared me, we were all thinking it,” says Sam.
Marvin and Sam have been best mates since meeting on I’m A Celebrity(Image: ITV)
Sam is told that Charles, who was in the 27th (Inniskilling) Foot Regiment, an Irish regiment in the British Army, also took a collection from his regiment of soldiers, donating the equivalent of £5,000 to help starving people. “He was a philanthropist, I’m so proud,” says Sam. “He was a total hero.” Sam also discovers a cousin match in Limavady, Northern Ireland, who happens to live in a massive stately home. “This is mental,” says Marvin. “I feel like we’ve turned up at Buckingham Palace, the Irish version.”
Sam’s long lost cousin, Connolly Patrick McCausland, explains their common ancestor was land agent Robert McCausland, who owned the stately home and also once owned 110 acres of Woolwich, London, where Marvin grew up. “We’re so connected!” says the Made In Chelsea star, adding: “If I ever get married, I’m getting married here.”
Meanwhile, with a castle up the road in Northern Ireland built by a John De Courcy, Sam is wondering if this is also his ancestor – since his surname is actually De Courcy Thompson. Sam explains: “I dropped ‘De Courcy’. One, hard to spell. And two, you sound like a bit of a douche.” But it turns out that Sam is not remotely connected to the famous John De Courcy.
Charles’s son Lesley made up the name De Courcy, giving it to his third son Sydney to improve their social standing. Sam laughs: “We faked it and I’m over the moon. I’ve got a signet ring and it doesn’t mean anything. We just gave it to ourselves. It’s like those people who buy a knighthood just to call themselves sir or lady. That’s us!”
*DNA Journey concludes on Thursday 26 June, ITV at 9pm.
