Crime Drama: Trigger Point and The Sweeney
Two Crime Dramas, Fifty Years Apart
Trigger Point (Series 2, Episode 1, 2024) is the contemporary crime drama set for study, paired with a ten-minute extract from The Sweeney (Series 1, Episode 1, 1975). Both programmes were originally broadcast on ITV, but fifty years apart — which is exactly why the exam board pairs them. Studying them side by side shows how the crime drama genre has both stayed the same and changed over time.
Trigger Point premiered in January 2022 on ITV and ITVX. Series two, which includes the set episode, began broadcasting in 2024; a third series followed on ITVX in 2025, with a fourth due in 2026. The drama follows Lana Washington, an ex-military bomb disposal operative (known as an ‘Expo’) and Afghan War veteran, who leads a Metropolitan Police bomb disposal squad dealing with terrorist threats.
Trigger Point premiered on ITV and ITVX in January 2022. The set episode is from series two (2024) and centres on Lana Washington, an ex–military bomb disposal operative and Afghan War veteran leading a Metropolitan Police bomb squad.
Media Language: Genre, Iconography and Narrative
The set episode uses many recognisable conventions of the crime thriller genre: a troubled but dedicated protagonist (Lana), a loyal sidekick (Danny) and anonymous terrorists as villains. Settings are conventional too — an urban city, a police station, and dangerous locations such as a power station. The episode’s iconography includes technology, uniforms, protective equipment, explosions and dead bodies, all signalling ‘crime thriller’ to the audience instantly.
Sound reinforces these conventions. Diegetic sound — police sirens, bombs detonating, technical jargon in dialogue — creates realism, while non-diegetic sound, such as the tense underscoring music, builds atmosphere for the audience.
Genre is not static, though. Trigger Point shows repetition and variation by putting a female protagonist at the centre of a historically male-dominated genre and role — a change one character even comments on directly: “Great to see a woman in the job. And unusual”, says Commander Francis. The focus on a bomb disposal unit, rather than a typical police force, is a further variation on genre expectations.
Propp’s narrative theory maps neatly onto the set episode. Lana is the hero, defusing explosives and saving lives. Danny is the helper, supporting her work. The terrorists are the villains, and Hassan fulfils the role of dispatcher, the character who sends the hero into action.
Thom takes the role of the princess, the character who is rescued, while Commander Francis acts as the false hero — interfering in events and showing questionable motives. As with any ongoing series, the episode builds suspense through a ticking-clock structure and ends on a cliffhanger, an enigma left unresolved to keep audiences watching the next episode.
Representation: Gender and Ethnicity
Lana’s representation challenges gender stereotypes. She is shown as highly effective, determined and calm under pressure, a meaning built through her costume and equipment, which connote her authority within the squad. Her clear, firm and authoritative dialogue and vocal delivery reinforce this representation through audio codes.
Stereotypical gender roles are reversed directly when Lana saves Thom from a room full of pressure plates. His verbal and non-verbal communication connotes dependence, weakness and fear, while Lana’s communicates composure, skill and bravery — the opposite of the ‘rescued woman’ convention older crime dramas relied on.
The episode also addresses the historical under-representation of ethnic minorities in television drama. Hassan, a British Asian Muslim officer, is shown as highly competent and accomplished, undermining the stereotype that would cast a Muslim character as a terrorist rather than the officer fighting terrorism. Danny, a Black male colleague Lana trusts, is given a significant and valued role. By contrast, John Hudson, a white officer who expresses racist views and resists Lana’s authority, is represented far less sympathetically — a deliberate reversal of who is coded as trustworthy.
Trigger Point reverses several media stereotypes: Lana (competent female lead), Hassan (British Asian Muslim officer fighting terrorism, not committing it), and Danny (trusted Black colleague) all challenge convention, while the racist officer John Hudson is represented negatively.
Media Industries: ITV, HTM Television and Funding
ITV plc is a conglomerate whose subsidiaries include ITV Studios and Media & Entertainment, making it what the company itself calls a ‘vertically integrated producer broadcaster and streamer’ — vertical integration means ITV both makes and distributes its own content. ITV Studios generates 59% of its revenue outside the UK, while ITV’s Media & Entertainment arm holds a 32.2% share of commercial viewing, making it the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster and video-on-demand streamer.
Trigger Point is produced by HTM Television, jointly owned by executive producer Jed Mercurio (creator of Line of Duty) and Hat Trick Productions. Series one was written by Daniel Brierley, a new and previously unestablished writer who received funding from a ScreenSkills bursary — a risk for ITV, balanced by casting Vicky McClure, who brought an existing fanbase from Line of Duty and This is England.
As a commercial broadcaster, ITV funds Trigger Point through advertising revenue from linear ITV and the free streaming service ITVX, plus sponsorship — Domino’s, for example, pays to have its branding displayed on the Trigger Point page of ITVX.
ITVX launched in 2022 and now records 1,686 million streaming hours, up from 1,506 million in 2023, showing the growing importance of on-demand viewing. Trigger Point was released simultaneously on ITV and ITVX and is also available through Amazon Prime Video and on DVD — a strategy that extends its reach to younger, streaming-first audiences alongside ITV’s traditional linear viewers.
Trigger Point is regulated by Ofcom and carries a 15 certificate due to violence, gore and intense scenes, so it is broadcast after the 9pm watershed. The ITVX page also warns of scenes of terrorism and strong language and offers parental controls.
Genre is dynamic rather than fixed — its conventions shift over time as social attitudes change. The Trigger Point fact sheet notes that earlier crime thrillers had almost exclusively white casts and male-dominated police forces. Trigger Point breaks with this convention by placing a female Expo, Lana, at the centre of the drama and surrounding her with a genuinely diverse squad, including Hassan and Danny.
The set episode also shows more sophisticated, technology-led policing than earlier crime thrillers, with drones, computer screens and specialist bomb disposal equipment central to how crimes are solved. This demonstrates how genre conventions repeat, offering audiences a familiar crime thriller framework, while also varying as production values, technology and social attitudes evolve.
Audiences and Contexts
ITV, as the UK’s longest-running commercial channel, has traditionally attracted an older audience from lower socio-economic groups (C2, D, E). Trigger Point’s 15 certificate signals an audience of adults and young adults; its crime thriller conventions appeal to genre fans, while Vicky McClure’s casting appeals to her existing fanbase. The show’s diverse representations of gender and ethnicity broaden its appeal further. The set episode attracted 6.36 million UK viewers, a large audience for a contemporary drama.
Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory helps explain why audiences watch: for entertainment and diversion from everyday life; to be informed about issues such as terrorism and gender inequality; for social interaction, discussing episodes on social media; and for personal identity, comparing their own lives with the characters’.
The set episode reflects several contemporary contexts: changing gender roles after several waves of feminism, evolving representations of masculinity (shown through Thom’s fear and vulnerability), and greater multiculturalism compared with the almost exclusively white casts of earlier crime thrillers. Its focus on technology — drones, computer screens, high-tech bombs and mobile phones — mirrors the growing importance of technology in society more broadly.
The set episode’s contexts include changing gender roles, evolving masculinity, greater multiculturalism than earlier crime dramas, and the growing role of technology in society.