In America, more people probably watch thrillers set on trains than actually ride them. Of course, that is not necessarily true along the Northeast Corridor and certainly not in the UK, where this series was produced. Regardless, everyone watches to literally see if the train in question eventually runs “off the rails.” In this latest example, an overnight express train is about to get hacked and the only officials with any hope of fixing it must waste time on turf battles and conference calls in creator Nick Leather’s six-episode Nightsleeper, which starts streaming this Friday on BritBox.
Joe Roag rather heroically recovered a woman’s purse before “The Heart of Britain” left Glasgow station on its regularly scheduled overnight run to London. (There you go. According to the BBC, Scotland is truly part of Britain.) Unfortunately, the woman was in on the plan, which allowed a mysterious co-conspirator to install a hacking device in the train’s computer system. The hackers take control and jam nearly all communications. They just did not anticipate a blokey oil rig worker would be onboard with his sat-phone.
Soon, Roag is talking to GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre. Acting Technical Director Abby Aysgarth wasn’t even supposed to be there. She was seconds away from leaving on vacation, but her intuition told her Saj Sidhu’s FYI of unusual activity was in fact part of a massively dangerous systemic issue. Her instincts are pretty well confirmed when the arrival boards at Victoria Station are hacked to display a ransom demand.
Aysgarth trusts Roag, even though she quickly determines the disgraced cop had fled a corruption charge (to clear his name, of course). Unfortunately, the passengers are an unruly and unhelpful lot, including Liz Draycott, who really ought to know better, considering she is the scandal-tarred transportation minister. As the hackers divert the train and increase its velocity to dangerous levels, GCHQ Director Nicola Miller allows Aysgarth to temporarily bring back her predecessor, grouchy Paul Peveril, who was dismissed for whistle-blowing leaks.
Just about everyone in Nightsleeper makes such stupid decisions, they will have viewers pulling their hair out in frustration. Yet, they will keep on pulling, because the execution is so grabby. Despite all the poor judgement, the tension starts high and steadily escalates—and every episode duly concludes with a new shocking revelation.
Joe Cole specializes in intense antiheroes, so the deeply flawed Roag is solidly in his wheelhouse. He also develops nice phone-buddy chemistry Alexandra Roach, who nicely shows how the mousy Aysgarth starts to assert herself, for the sake of the hack-jacked train.
As usual, James Cosmo is entertainingly crusty Fraser Warren, a retired train engineer, who happened to be onboard. David Threlfall is similarly colorful and cranky as Peveril, but frankly, most viewers would also fire anyone from a sensitive national security position who looked like such a bleary-eyed Deadhead.
Arguably, the bureaucratic in-fighting and the ease with which the hackers take control of the train are equally alarming throughout Nightsleeper. It actually has a legit point regarding foreign ownership of key transit assets, but instead of CCP-linked Chinese firms buying up pieces of the British rail system, it points its finger at France. So, just imagine how much worse the situation would be if the Heart of Britain were operated by a Chinese enterprise rather than a French corporation. Regardless, the series barrels down the track like a runaway train, with little adult supervision to stand in the way. Recommended for fans of rail-bound thrillers, Nightsleeper premieres this Friday (12/26) on BritBox.
