'Trigger Point' Season 2 Leads Off BritBox Trio of High-End Debuts

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, PBS had two nights of British programming a week. Masterpiece Theater, launched in 1970, was a Sunday night staple of public broadcasting and remains so. However, due to specific funding stipulations during its early years, Masterpiece Theater could only air period pieces, which meant that many of the top-rated mystery series didn't make the cut. To work around this, in 1980, WGBH launched a second series, Mystery! The first couple of seasons stuck to period mysteries as PBS established the program, but soon began seeding in more modern series, like Dalgliesh and Morse, the latter of which turned into one of the franchise's longest-running, most-watched franchises. For almost 30 years, Sundays and Thursdays were must-see-TV for Anglophiles until Masterpiece consolidated the two programs in 2008.

Since then, many PBS stations have replaced Thursday Night Mystery! with... British mysteries. (Here in the DC area, we have two different PBS stations that refer to it as "Thriller Thursdays.") Currently a mix of older Mystery! episodes, Walter Presents foreign-language mysteries, and second-run British shows acquired from Acorn TV or BritBox, Anglophiles still tune in on Thursdays to watch Brits get murdered in small, cozy villages. This has not gone unnoticed either. Since being taken over by the BBC, BritBox has started programming Thursday nights with the most prominent titles they've acquired, including Beyond Paradise, McDonald & Dodds, Blue Lights, and The Responder, covering April, May, June, and July, with a few populating Wednesdays, like Sister Boniface Mysteries. 

However, with the start of the 2024-2025 TV season in September, BritBox will begin programming weekdays in earnest. September will not just have one or two, but three shows airing on Wednesdays and Thursdays, starting Thursday, September 5 with Trigger Point Season 2. That will be followed by The Bay Season 5 on Wednesdays beginning September 18 and finish up with The Tower Season 3, which debuts on Thursday, September 26, 2024.

Here's the Season 2 synopsis for Trigger Point:

The second series starts a year on from the Crusader’s attacks. Lana Washington has returned to EXPO after helping train bomb disposal teams in Ukraine. While she’s back and giving a corporate talk on bomb disposal, a series of devices are used to attack a power station causing widespread chaos, signaling the start of a new and active threat. Lana works with MI5 and Counter-Terrorism to uncover a wide but loosely connected terrorist cell led by an anonymous leader and bound by their belief in anti-state conspiracy theories. Lana is pushed to her limits as she goes undercover, attempting to unmask the figurehead of the paranoid, delusional cell before they cause total devastation. 

Vicky McClure (Line of Duty) will once again be joined by Nabil Elouahabi (Unforgotten), Eric Shango (Suspicion), Mark Stanley (Happy Valley), Kerry Godliman (Whitstable Pearl), Kris Hitchen (Four Lives), and Kevin Eldon (Sanditon). Season 2 additions include Natalie Simpson (Outlander), Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton), and Tomiwa Edun (Young Wallander). Series creator Daniel Brierley wrote the new six-part series with Simon Ashdown (Our House) and Amanda Duke (Treason). Directors Jon East and Audrey Cooke, who also helmed the Mercurtio series Bloodlands, split helming duties.

Here's The Bay's Season 5 synopsis:

When 23-year-old university student Hannah is found dead on the edge of the docks, Morecambe’s MIU team has another case to solve. Jenn, who is returning to work following the death of her father, pushes aside her grief to support Hannah’s bitterly divided family. With the stakes of the investigation high, Jenn and the team dig deeper into the case and uncover hidden friendships and secret liaisons as the anger rises in the student community. As intensity increases and the team peels back the complicated layers of Hannah’s life and its secrets, Jenn must reconcile her personal and professional struggles as she grapples to solve the case, come to terms with her own loss, and build bridges with her family. 

Marsha Thomason (COBRA) will return for Season 5, playing Jenn Townsend, having settled into Morecambe CID. The rest of the series regulars, Daniel Ryan (Home Fires) as her DI, Tony Manning, Erin Shanagher (Peaky Blinders) as colleague DS Karen Hobson, Andrew Dowbiggin (Coronation Street) as DS James Clarke, and Thomas Law (The World's End) as boss DC Eddie Martin. Also returning are those who joined in Season 3 as Jenn's family: Barry Sloane (Longmire), who plays Jenn's partner, Chris Fischer, plus Georgia Scholes, David Carpenter, and Emme Hayes, who play their blended family of kids.

And here's the synopsis for The Tower Season 3, subtitled Gallowstree Lane.

Two years after we last saw her, Sarah is called to investigate the stabbing of a teenage boy. The case brings her into contact with Lizzie, now balancing life as detective and mother, and into conflict with Kieran, who is running Operation Perseus, targeting drug kingpin Shakiel. Kieran is working with Steve, who has gone undercover to infiltrate Shakiel’s empire. The focus of Sarah and Kieran’s conflict is 15-year-old Ryan (Lamar Waves), who witnessed the fatal stabbing but is also a key part of Shakiel’s inner circle. As Perseus heads to its shocking climax, Ryan will have a surprising role to play.

Season 3 will bring back all four leads from the first two seasons, with Gemma Whelan (Killing Eve) as DS Sarah Collins, Jimmy Akingbola (Kate & Koji) as DC Steve Bradshaw, Emmett J Scanlan (Peaky Blinders) as DI Kieran Shaw, and Tahirah Sharif (The Haunting of Bly Manor), who received a BAFTA nomination for her role as PC Lizzie Adama in Season 1. Patrick Harbinson penned all episodes (which will run four feature-length installments, same as Season 2) and executive produces via his Windhover Films in conjunction with ITV's Mammoth Screen.

Trigger Point Season 2 will debut with two episodes on Thursday, September 5, and will stream two episodes a week through Thursday, September 19, 2024.

The Bay Season 5 will debut on BritBox with two episodes on Wednesday, September 18, and will stream two episodes a week through Wednesday, October 4, 2024.

The Tower 3: Gallowstree Lane will debut on BritBox on Thursday, September 26, and stream one feature-length episode a week through Thursday, October 17, 2024.