What To Expect From Nightsleeper

By Olivia Emily

3 months ago

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There’s nothing like a real-time drama to get your heart racing – we learned that watching Hijack. And now there’s a new one over at the BBC, which is being described as ‘Hijack on a train’. Here’s everything you need to know about Nightsleeper before you tune in.

Nightsleeper: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

Nightsleeper was first teased way back in December 2022 when the BBC confirmed a script written by BAFTA and RTS award-winning writer Nick Leather was going into production. Flash forward to August 2024, and it still hasn’t landed on our screens – I guess we all know what trains are like… Originally slated for early 2024, we think the BBC is now waiting for that all important autumn TV season when us Brits are much more likely to curl up in front of the sofa with a gripping thriller.

‘I couldn’t be more excited to work with Euston Films and the BBC to drive the engine of this real-time thriller and take our audience along for a ride full of personal intrigue, political manoeuvring and danger,’ Leather said upon the initial announcement. ‘By the time dawn breaks at the end of this journey, no-one involved will ever be the same again.’

Alexandra Loach as Abby in Nightsleeper. (© BBC/Euston Films/Sam Taylor)

What Will Happen In Nightsleeper?

‘Nightsleeper is a fast paced thriller set on a train on which passengers find a dangerous hacking device,’ lead star Alexandra Roach tells C&TH. Across six real-time episodes, Nightsleeper traces the intense events aboard a six hour sleeper train from Glasgow to London. In the journey’s early moments, it becomes clear the train – called the Heart of Britain – is under attack with this device. Onboard, Joe Roag (Joe Cole) is an off-duty police officer thankful for a quiet night. On the ground, Abby Asgarth (Alexandra Roach) is finally about to take a well-earned holiday from her new role as Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre when she receives a phone call that will change everything.

The train is hurtling towards London and Abby must frantically try to save the train’s disparate group of passengers, working with Joe to intervene in the rapidly escalating and unpredictable events onboard. ‘My job is to hack back into the device and save the lives of these passengers,’ Roach tells us. Intense.

‘The classic on-screen genre of a runaway train is given a thrilling modern twist by screenwriter Nick Leather and we find ourselves with a small group of people in a race against time,’ say Nightsleeper’s production company Euston Films’ managing directors Kate Harwood and Noemi Spanos.

Gaynor Holmes, Commissioning Editor for BBC Drama, adds: ‘Nick Leather’s ingenious scripts combine a fantastic premise with a nail-biting plot and characters you will root for. We can’t wait to bring Nightsleeper hurtling on to the BBC – viewers will definitely want to catch it.’

The Cast Of Nightsleeper

Joe Cole as Joe Roag, an off-duty police officer on the train
Alexandra Roach as Abby Asgarth, Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre
Alex Ferns as Arran Moy
Sharon Small as Liz Draycott MP
James Cosmo as Fraser Warren
David Threlfall as Paul ‘Pev’ Peveril
Daniel Cahill as Danny Geoghan
Lois Chimimba as Erin Connolly
Gabriel Howell
Katie Leung as Rachel Li
Leah MacRae as Sophie Warren
Ruth Madeley as Chrissy Doolan
Adam Mitchell as Max ‘Mouse’ Ellis
Pamela Nomvete as Nicola Miller
Scott Reid as William McCloud
Sharon Rooney as Yasmin Brown
Parth Thakerar as Saj Sidhu

‘We were often quite split as a cast – a bit West Side Story – half of the cast on the train, half in cybersecurity land,’ Roach tells C&TH. ‘But what was really great is that, in most of my scenes with Joe, where Abby would be on the phone with him, I really would be. The line always had somebody, usually him, on the other side – on the occasion he wasn’t there, someone would stand in. It brought the intimacy of the scenes to life. I really believed in the world, and what could happen, and got lost in it.’