Trigger Point season 2: When does it start, what happened at the end of season 1 and how can you watch?

Trigger Point season 2 finally has a release date and there’s never been a better time to get excited and brush-up on your season 1 knowledge. 

It’s been two years since we last saw Lana Washington (played by Line of Duty’s Vicky McClure) and her squad on our screens but finally the wait for Trigger Point season 2 is almost over. The start of the year just wouldn’t be the same without the range of returning and new dramas that regularly grip our imaginations with their intense storylines. The second season has been teased in adverts for weeks and fans might already be speculating on where the first episode will pick up after what happened in Trigger Point season 1’s heart-stopping finale. 

With anticipation building for the start of the show, many fans might be excitedly counting down the days and wondering when Trigger Point season 2 will start.

*Warning: Spoilers ahead*

What is the Trigger Point season 2 release date?

If you’ve been asking yourself the all-important question - “When does Trigger Point season 2 start?” - then you’ll be delighted to discover that the release date is Sunday 28th January. Sundays are a prime scheduling day for any ITV show and the new series of Trigger Point will be airing in part of the time-slot that is currently being held by Vera season 13 since it started earlier this month.

How to watch Trigger Point season 2

Anyone who’s been excitedly waiting for the announcement of the Trigger Point season 2 release date should mark Sundays at 9pm on ITV1 in their calendars and the show will continue to air in this slot on Sundays going forwards. All of the episodes will also be available to stream via ITVX from this date for anyone who’d prefer to watch Trigger Point season 2 at a time that better suits them.

If you’re looking to re-immerse yourself in the high-stakes world of bomb disposal before the start of Trigger Point season 2, or perhaps you've not yet dived into the hit drama series, then you can also watch all episodes of season 1 via ITVX. 

The first season of Trigger Point was available for US viewers to watch via Peacock and so it would make sense if season 2 followed this pattern, though no US release date has been confirmed yet.

How to watch Trigger Point season 2 from anywhere

If you’re a citizen of the UK on vacation or working overseas, you can still watch Trigger Point season 2 just as you normally would at home when it starts on 28th January. To do this you will need to use a VPN which is a handy piece of software which allows you to change your IP address to make it look like you're accessing streaming services from any country in the world.

Our sister site, TechRadar, has tested all of the major VPN services and they consider ExpressVPN to be the absolute best. ExpressVPN has lightning-fast speeds, reliable content unlocking and even offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

ExpressVPN service | Get 49% off and 3 months FREE  

If you've never installed a VPN before, don't worry, it's quick and easy. Just follow these three steps:

1. Download and install the VPN following ExpressVPN's easy-to-follow instructions.
2. Once you've installed your VPN, open the app and select your server location as anywhere in the UK.
3. With your VPN installed and server location set to UK, you can now watch Trigger Point season 2 online. 

Will Trigger Point season 2 be on Netflix? 

Whilst Netflix remains a staple streaming service for so many people when they want to watch their favourite shows, sadly Trigger Point season 2 won’t be added to its library of intense thrillers or British TV shows. The drama is an ITV programme and will premiere on the network and even season 1 of Trigger Point isn’t on Netflix right now, two years after it aired. 

With this in mind it’s perhaps unlikely that even after Trigger Point season 2 has ended it will end up being released on Netflix. Never say never, though, as some other dramas that aired first on the likes of the BBC or Channel 5 like The Holiday and Inside Man have later gone on Netflix. 

What happened in the Trigger Point season 1 finale? 

Since it’s been almost two years since the Trigger Point season 1 finale aired, fans would be forgiven for wanting a recap on a few of the details ahead of Trigger Point season 2. The crime drama focuses on the work of bomb disposal operative or “Expo” Lana Washington and her team in the Metropolitan Police bomb disposal squad. It’s a dangerous occupation and in the very first episode this was made exceptionally clear with a heart-breaking moment that likely shocked many viewers at home. The first series saw the team trying to prevent a terrorist campaign that threatened London during one summer.

It was only in the Trigger Point season 1 finale that Lana realised - to her horror - that her friend Karl Maguire, who was ex-military, was involved in the terrorist conspiracy. This came after a remarkable piece of deduction which saw Lana and  Sonya (who works at the Bomb Data Centre) realise that a note written on the wall at the place where the first attack took place contained numbers on the periodic table which corresponded to K Mg for ‘Karl Maguire’.

Just as he’d been uncovered as being involved, he had taken to the stage at a hall where a by-election’s results were set to be shared. He was targeting candidate Ayesha Campbell-Khan and revealed he had an explosive device taped to his chest. 

His motive was a vehicle crash in Afghanistan where soldiers died, though their families have long suspected that this story of what happened was a cover-up. It turned out Karl had been one of the soldiers and he’d escaped after they’d been too lightly defended whilst transporting chemical explosives and had been ambushed and attacked. Karl had been planning his revenge for the cover-up ever since after he'd been kicked out of the army and "threatened" with the official secrets act and he blamed Ayesha for it.

He manipulated people to join his cause and in the closing stages he was revealed to be holding a switch that would activate the explosive device if he let go. Thankfully for everyone, Lana managed to grab the switch off him in time. Karl was killed by a sniper as Lana kept the pressure of Karl’s hand on the switch to stop it detonating as it was disarmed.

This brought the terrifying ordeal to an end but for Lana it took a heavy emotional toll. Throughout the course of Trigger Point season 1 Lana has lost plenty of people close to her including her friend Joel Nutkins (who sadly died in the very first episode), her brother and now Karl, who was revealed to have been a villain all along. She was clearly devastated about what happened with Karl and the last time we saw her in the final episode of season 1 she attended a preliminary enquiry.

She was met outside by Sonya who told her that there was “no shame” in being fooled by Karl and the two went off to the pub together. Their friendship was the perfect positive focus to end the series on after all Lana had been through.