The following contains spoilers from Trigger Point Series 1, Episode 1, now streaming on BritBox.

There is a natural inclination to compare the TV series Trigger Point to Line of Duty. The bomb-disposal drama is produced by Jed Mercurio, the creator of Line of Duty. Its lead actor is Line of Duty actor Vicky McClure. But most importantly, Trigger Point feels like it wants to be Line of Duty -- and it falls far short of those high expectations.

In fairness to this show, which flew under the radar on its initial U.S. release and is now getting second exposure on BritBox, anything would fall short since Line of Duty is one of the best British crime dramas ever made. But Trigger Point, despite Mercurio's involvement and a cast packed with well-known faces, never drums up the tension it needs to match its premise. It's a run of the mill procedural in which things explode.

Trigger Point Never Generates Enough Suspense

The Series Lacks Momentum From Its Opening Scenes

Trigger Point follows elite police explosives experts as they attempt to identify and stop a bombing campaign across London. This sounds like a nail-biting idea for a TV show -- but writer Daniel Brierly never gets that onto the page. The series opens in media res, with explosives officers Lana Washington and Joel Nutkins on their way to a call at a high-rise apartment building. Yet there's no urgency in any of it. Not their driving through traffic, even though they've got their vehicle's lights and sirens on. Not the dialogue, either between Lana and Joel or between them and the other police officers at the scene. Not even the background actors; at one point the camera cuts away to a resident looking out of his window almost disinterested, as if he's getting ready to yell at kids to get off his nonexistent lawn.

In contrast, the opening scenes of Line of Duty also start in the middle of the action, but there is a terrific urgency to the way that sequence is written and filmed. The camera and the people move with determination -- even desperation. A brilliant performance by Martin Compston allows the viewer to see and hear everything going through Steve Arnott's mind. When Steve and his unit go into their apartment building, audience members feel the dramatic tension. Trigger Point has Lana and Joel calmly conversing with the other officers, taking the time to have the usual snarky police infighting banter, and getting into their gear like it's any other day. The action takes most of the first episode to pick up -- and by then, it's too late to capture any momentum.

The BritBox release of the series -- which debuted on British broadcaster ITV in 2022 -- does get rid of the commercial-break title cards that were left in when Trigger Point had its U.S. premiere on Peacock. Those title cards had the effect of knocking viewers out of the story, often in odd places, so the pacing does improve slightly with them gone. However, when audiences hear there's a show about bomb experts and a serial bomber, they expect a thriller that moves fast and throws a lot of curveballs. Trigger Point does neither. When something finally blows up at the end of the first episode, it's an explosion any savvy crime drama viewer will see coming.

Trigger Point's Cast Is Its Biggest Strength

Vicky McClure Continues to be a Bankable Lead

Despite the underwhelming script, Trigger Point does have an entertaining cast. Anyone who's watched Vicky McClure, from This Is England to Broadchurch and beyond, knows how talented she is -- particularly in the crime genre. There could probably be a whole show of her reading a phone book and she'd find a way to make it interesting. She stretches lead character Lana Washington past the "tough action heroine" archetype. It's a bit strange at first to see McClure without fellow crime genre-breaker Martin Compston, but that just serves as a reminder of how special what they accomplish on Line of Duty is.

McClure's partner in Trigger Point is Adrian Lester, another actor who will be recognizable to U.S. viewers. A Tony Award nominee and Olivier Award winner, Lester is most fondly known for his starring role in the British crime drama Hustle, but more recently was a lead in Starz's spy thriller The Rook. He displays good chemistry with McClure, albeit not even close to developed enough thanks to the aforementioned obvious plot twist; it's their charisma that makes the standard "buddy cop" dialogue palatable. Manjinder Virk (Midsomer Murders) and Mark Stanley (Happy Valley) also have prominent roles, making the TV show worth a glance just to count the familiar faces.

But the real attention-grabber outside of McClure is Strike Back and Luther alum Warren Brown, who arrives later in the six-episode season. Brown's character Karl Maguire emerges as a friend for Lana, and it's another role where Brown has a chance to layer in more than meets the eye. He brings a little more pathos to the character that helps sell Karl's character arc. If the viewer persists long enough to see him appear, Brown provides a jolt of energy for the show.

Why Doesn't 'Trigger Point' Dig Deeper?

TV Series Is Held Back By Its Lack of Complexity

Trigger Point has big ambitions and strong players, but it's just missing too much to get off the ground. Brierly -- who penned all six episodes -- is a first-time screenwriter (per The Independent), and it shows. Most of the characters fall into easily recognizable slots, with dialogue that's often clunky, and the plot twists aren't as clever as the series thinks they are. A great example is the end of Episode 1, in which Lester's hero Joel Nutkins goes the way of Helen Flynn in Spooks. Killing off a main character early, especially one played by an actor promoted as a co-lead, is meant to be shocking and put the audience back on their heels. It worked in Spooks because Helen's death felt organic to the plot and the way she died was so outright terrifying that it was impossible not to be gripped.

It doesn't work in Trigger Point because Joel's demise is easily telegraphed. Here's the best friend of the main character, and they've just managed a close call, so of course there's going to be another last-minute bomb and of course he's going to die. Especially since the rest of the episode has been relatively slow and there's such an emphasis placed on Lana and Joel's friendship, audiences are waiting for the other shoe to drop and the only thing of value to the viewer at that point is Lana and Joel's bond. There's not even much build-up to the moment; no one gets to hold their breath and see if Joel can get out of it. He's gone in quick order, with the explosion filmed at a distance, further keeping the viewer back from what should be a jaw-dropping shock.

All of Trigger Point suffers from that fatal flaw. Audiences can see what the show wants to do -- and then there's what it actually does, which is so far apart from its intent. It's not hard to grasp what Mercurio saw in Brierly, because this TV series feels like it wants to have the intensity of Line of Duty and the twisty plot of Bodyguard, but there's a lot left to learn. A second series has begun airing in the United Kingdom, and hopefully it's improved. Any U.S. viewers who love British TV will want to jump on Trigger Point just for the actors, and Vicky McClure and Warren Brown are always worth the time. But anyone expecting nerve-wracking suspense is better off going back and rewatching The Hurt Locker.

Trigger Point is now streaming on BritBox.