A new BBC crime thriller series is premiering this weekend titled Nightsleeper that is set to get the pulse of viewers racing.

Starring Joe Cole (Gangs of London, Peaky Blinders) and Alexandra Roach (cult classic Utopia), the six-part series takes place in real time and sees a train hijacked by hackers (or ‘hackjacked’) and driven through one single night from Glasgow to London on an uncertain journey.

“Leading the fight are Joe Roag (Cole), a cop who is a passenger on the train and Abby Aysgarth (Roach), the acting technical director at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC),” the plot synopsis reads.

“But who are they fighting? And how can they win against the self-styled ‘Driver’ who seems one step ahead of every solution? There’s a small team working the night shift alongside Abby and a handful of passengers left on the train with Joe but are they all as innocent as you’d think? Who can they trust? Who can we trust? Are there people on board who know more than they are letting on?”

Image: BBC

Created by BAFTA-winning writer Nick Leather (Murdered for Being Different), Nightsleeper also stars David Threlfall (Shameless), James Cosmo (Trainspotting), Katie Leung (Harry Potter), Ruth Madeley (Years and Years) and Sharon Rooney (Barbie).

Thanks to its talent involved both onscreen and off and its exciting premise, anticipation is high for the series. The great news is that the early buzz regarding the show is very strong, with The Guardian referring to it in an interview with its cast and crew as being “like Speed meets 24, with a dash of Bodyguard and Hijack.”

Image: BBC

Other more straightforward reviews have also been glowing, some of which you can read below:

• Cinerama: “Mixing elements of the classic disaster movie with the energy of Jan de Bont’s Speed (1994) and the pace of Slow Horses and 24, Nightsleeper is an addictive, atmospheric and enthralling breakneck techno-thriller.”

Digital Spy: “Nightsleeper is an absorbing watch that continues to build the tension with twist after twist in a ‘whodunnit’ fashion to keep the mystery chugging on throughout.”
The Sydney Morning Herald: “For all that it mimics the wind-up clock dynamics of an Agatha Christie novel, this show is concerned with the real world too.”

Comprising of six episodes, Nightsleeper will air on BBC One on Sunday and Monday nights across three weeks from 9pm – starting tomorrow night (Sunday, 15 September)