Eric Shango has opened up about why portraying a police officer in the hit ITV drama Trigger Point carried particular significance after his experiences growing up in inner-city London.
The actor has played counter-terrorism officer Danny Markham alongside Vicky McClure’s explosives expert Lana Washington since the thriller launched in 2022.
Speaking exclusively to GB News ahead of the fourth series, Mr Shango reflected on the long-running debate surrounding policing and its relationship with communities in the capital.
“There’s been a long discourse surrounding the police and their relationship with, you know, inner-city London, like communities or people, communities within inner cities,” he explained.
Eric Shango plays counter-terrorism officer Danny Markham in the hit ITV drama
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ITV
The actor said growing up in a working-class environment exposed him to challenging circumstances which ultimately helped shape the person he is today.
“For me, growing up in inner-city London, growing up in a working-class family and situation, meant that I had to have a lot of resilience,” Mr Shango said.
“I had to be very resourceful. I had to be very creative. I had to have a lot of hope and faith.”
Mr Shango was raised by his mother alongside two siblings and credited her with helping him navigate the difficulties he faced during his younger years.
The actor revealed he worked with the ITV drama’s writers to challenge perceptions through his character
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GETTY
“I had to lean a lot on my faith and my mum. My mum was a single mother raising three children on her own,” he explained.
Despite acknowledging the challenges of his upbringing, the actor said he now looks back on the experience with immense pride.
“It’s a journey. It’s something that I’m very proud of,” he told GB News.
“It’s provided me with all of the characteristics that I need to find myself where I am today.”
The ITV star wanted his character to help challenge perceptions surrounding policing
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ITV
Mr Shango added that some people he knew growing up had “struggled” and found themselves in difficult circumstances, leaving him grateful for the path his own life ultimately took.
That background also made the opportunity to portray Danny particularly meaningful.
“I think that there was an excitement to play a police officer, especially the type of police officer I play, because of the dichotomy of it,” he explained.
Mr Shango said he viewed the character as an opportunity to help “build the bridge and the gap” between perceptions surrounding policing and the experiences of communities like the one in which he grew up.
The actor revealed he held conversations with Trigger Point’s writers about ensuring that context was not overlooked.
He argued that one way television can challenge existing perceptions is by placing people audiences recognise or identify with into positions they might not traditionally expect to see them occupy.
Mr Shango said it allows viewers to “watch them handle it in the way that they would identify and recognise”.
The actor also spoke passionately about the importance of his Christian faith, which he credited alongside his mother and upbringing with helping him through challenging periods.
Trigger Point season 4 is set to be released in September
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GETTY
“I just thank God because God is at the centre of a lot of what it is that I do and how I exist,” he said.
Later in the interview, Mr Shango described his faith as “incredibly important” to every aspect of his life, adding that he strives to remain humble, “meek” and “teachable” as his career progresses.
The actor will reprise his role as Danny when Trigger Point returns for its fourth series, with the actor teasing that the scale of the threat facing the team this time is “exponentially bigger”.