Trigger Point season 3: What is Coldmarsh and how the victims are connected
This season's killer has a vendetta and it's all to do with something called Coldmarsh...Trigger Point has returned to screens with an explosive season 3, and a mysterious new killer to boot seeking justice for Coldmarsh.
Vicky McClure is back and as stressed as ever as EXPO leader Lana Washington. This season she and her comrades have their work cut out with a serial-killer-come-bomber who’s attempting to get revenge for Coldmarsh. But what exactly is it, and how does it link with the victims?
We’ve collated all the need-to-know information about the conspiracy and crucial plot point to support your Trigger Point viewing.
**Warning – contains spoilers for Trigger Point season 3 episodes 1-4**
What is Coldmarsh in Trigger Point?
All victims of the anonymous bomber (Jason Flemyng) were once employees at a construction and demolition firm called DBN Construction. Coldmarsh was the name given to a particular company contract in the 90s that saw to the demolition of old buildings.
“It was part of a wider government initiative to knock down municipal buildings – schools, hospitals – that kind of thing,” Lana explained in episode three.
Since then, some of the DBN construction employees have become ill. This includes Ewan Knox, who has Mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Ewan was site manager at the time and he blamed his former boss Declan O’Kelley (aka Ned Cole) for sending him into harmful environments.
DBN Construction was later bought out by the Akermark group and they subsequently have the Coldmarsh records. After retrieving the records, DS Helen Morgan (Natalie Simpson) revealed that there was a government hearing a few years prior looking into Coldmarsh and accountability for asbestos poisoning. Representatives from DBN Construction attended, including Jo Adeyami. However, no one was found accountable.
“How can you prove that a company wilfully and knowingly sent people to their deaths,” Helen said. “You get them to confess,” replied Lana.
Trigger Point’s Coldmarsh: Confess or Die
The bomber’s victims were all issued with the same demand: “Confess or Die.” In episode one, it was written on a big sign and placed next to Ned Cole (aka Declan O’Kelley) in the abandoned black cab. It was also chained to the railings in the chamber where Agnes was tied up and drowned to death.
While we still don’t know the identity of the bomber, we know that his motivations are personal. He wants to get a confession on record to publicly expose DBN Construction’s asbestos cover-up.
We also know that he is close to Ewan Knox… The bomber orders supplies to make his homemade bombs to Ewan’s home address.
As Lana also notes, Ewan’s cancer Mesothelioma destroys the lungs and that’s exactly how Jason Flemyng’s character is killing his victims – suffocation.
Coldmarsh in Trigger Point: The bomber’s hit list
1: Agnes Raffner
Quantity surveyor turned lecturer Agnes Raffner was the bomber’s first victim. She worked at DBN Construction in the 90s and was an executive consultant around the time of the Coldmarsh contract.
She was kidnapped from the lecture theatre at the University she worked at and tied up in the central plant room. It was EXPO officer Rich Manning (Mark Rowley) who found her and tried to set her free. She was the one to first mention the name Coldmarsh.
“I’m going to die,” she told him. “I did a terrible thing. We all knew. Just listen to me. This is because of Coldmarsh.”
The bomber activated the device from his phone and water started pouring into the chamber she was trapped in. As the water level rose, Agnes apologised to Rich and intentionally drowned herself.
2: Ned Cole/Declan O’Kelley
Viewers were first introduced to Ned in episode 1, abandoned in the cab with the ‘Confess or Die’ sign.
As Lana attended to the explosive device, Ned revealed: “I did a terrible thing. I knew and I didn’t care about the consequences.”
Luckily, Ned came away from the taxi threat alive and unharmed. However, in the hospital, he refused to elaborate any more about his confession. Following Helen’s questioning, Ned escaped and made his way to a garage rented in his name.
As Helen tried to track him down, Lana did a sweep of Ned’s registered address. His place had very little in the way of personal belongings and soon it was clear why. Lana found an Irish passport with the name Dennis O’Kelley on it, revealing Ned’s real identity. She alerted the police and headed to the same garage as Dennis.
Dennis arrived first to the garage and opened it up. He was upset to see his car had been stolen, but didn’t have long to mourn as the bomber showed up. He closed the door, locking him in.
Minutes later, Lana and Danny showed up and heard Dennis crying for help. Lana slid a micro camera under the door and checked the garage, concerned that the bomber had planted a device. This time though, Dennis was less calm and fumbled around for his phone. He fired off a text saying “F*** you” to an anonymous contact.
“F****** Coldmarsh, I knew one of them would come for me eventually. I thought I could get away,” Dennis stated. Lana told Dennis to remain calm and not to turn the light on. But Dennis ignored her and flicked the switch. The garage then exploded, killing him instantly.
3, 4 and 5: Peter Howard, Dean West and Maggie Kelsey
DCI Batra’s (Maanuv Thiara) press conference appealing for information in wake of the attacks angered the bomber. He was so angry in fact, that he amped up his revenge plan, kidnapping four more victims. These were notably other DBN Construction employees: Jo Adeyemi, Peter Howard, Dean West and Maggie Kelsey.
The police and EXPO team were unsure where the missing individuals were. However, in a lightbulb moment, Lana decided to check out the location of where the Coldmarsh government hearing took place: Greenwich. Sure enough, that’s where the missing people were, minus one.
Peter, Dean and Maggie were tied up on the steps of the Old Royal Naval College. They were fitted with gas masks that were linked to the same oxygen canisters used by Ewan Knox. They were also sat on weighted scales with bomb triggers that needed to be disabled by EXPO.
Lana and Hass successfully disposed of the weighted scales and freed two. Rich though, still suffering from PTSD from his recent drowning experience, cut the wrong wire and was killed in the subsequent explosion.
While all three victims were freed, they later died as a result of acetyl chloride poisoning. This was laced in their oxygen masks, suffocating them slowly.
6. Jo Adeyemi
While Jo was kidnapped alongside the others, the bomber kept her for another of his deadly plans.
In her previous tenure at DBN Construction, she worked as their legal counsel. She represented the company at the recent government hearing into asbestos and was a leading figure behind the company cover-up.
In episode 4, the bomber tied Jo to a chair with an explosive device and an hour countdown. Next, he set up a live web stream and levelled the evidence against her, demanding she confess to the Coldmarsh cover-up.
The EXPO team and police tracked the location of the livestream and hurried to the abandoned warehouse where Jo was based. They were hoping to get to her before the bomb went off.
Lana headed into the building with armed officers and successfully disposed of several bomb traps inside. She then stumbled across the bomber’s workshop and discovered a hidden door that led to Jo.
Lana bashed down the door and rushed to Jo but she was already dead, having been poisoned by acetyl chloride.
A defeated and struggling Lana sat down on the floor and took some more co-codamol. Due to the amount of pills she’d taken in the last hour Lana was spaced out and experiencing blurred vision.
The threat wasn’t over though as new information emerged that the bomber had set the whole site to blow up. Has (Nabil Elouahabi) ran into the building and found Lana, coaching her in her disorientated state to attend to the bomb threat. Lana was eventually able to locate two wires that need to join back together to stop the detonation.
Read more: Trigger Point series 4: ITV confirms explosive Vicky McClure drama will be back for more episodes
