How do you keep things fresh in a fourth series of ticking clocks, burning fuses and dastardly bomb plots? It’s a good question – and Vicky McClure, star of the hit ITV drama , has the answer.
“We’ve become a bit like ,” she tells , referencing the 1987 Steve Martin and John Candy comedy classic. “We’ve got almost every mode of transport this time – apart from trains – including a scene with a speedboat. We went up and down the Thames for half a day. We’d been looking forward to it for a month beforehand.
“That sort of action shakes things up a bit, for the viewers as well as us. It was such a fun day to film. We kept having to remember not to smile, because obviously our characters are racing to the scene of an emergency.”
was one of ITV’s top-rated dramas in 2025, averaging seven million viewers, and centres on McClure’s character Lana Washington, a bomb disposal expert – or “Expo” – working with the Metropolitan Police in London. At the end of the previous series, Lana was struggling with PTSD, but decided to stick with the job. In this season, we see Lana in therapy – but McClure assures us that doesn’t stop her from getting involved with the action.
“I do a lot of running in this series,” she says. “There aren’t a lot of talky scenes; it’s more action-packed than ever. Working on this show is like having free gym membership for me, which is great, as I’m not a fan of the gym. I bought myself a really comfy camping chair so I could have a nice sit-down in between all the running! That was the best decision ever.”
And if nothing else, it has given her a new appreciation for the men and women doing the real job she’s only pretending to do. “Those suits they wear are incredibly heavy,” McClure says. “They weigh the same as I do, and I only have to run in mine for a minute or two. In reality, they’re in them for up to 10 hours a day in extreme temperatures, dealing with actual devices. I respect the real Expos so much.”