Nightsleeper starts off amusingly, but so far lacks the urgency of similar series. Six years ago the BBC broadcast perhaps the most exciting train scene ever on television. In Bodyguard we saw how a veteran spent twenty minutes trying to thwart an attack. We can also spread such a scene over six episodes, the BBC must have thought when they made Nightsleeper. But does it work? That remains to be seen.
In this series we follow a sleeper train that runs from Glasgow to London. Of course it won't be a quiet ride. Hackers have hijacked the train and Detective Joe Roag (Joe Cole, Gangs of London) tries to stop the train before it reaches London. He is assisted by cybersecurity agent Abby Aysgard (Alexandra Roach, Utopia), with whom he speaks by phone.
Nightsleeper starts off amusingly
Nightsleeper starts off quite nicely. It is beautifully filmed, well put together to a certain extent and reasonably acted. You shouldn't expect deep dramatic roles from an actor like Joe Cole. Fortunately, he doesn't have to play that role here. Alexandra Roach is also doing well. There are also nice supporting roles for Sharon Small (London Kills), Alex Ferns (The Devil's Hour) and David Threlfall (Shameless).
This series takes place in real time. Every minute in the series corresponds to a real minute. This trick has been seen more often in series like 24 or more recently Hijack and it can work nicely and add a lot to the tension. But things haven't really gotten off the ground here yet. That may be because the really big exciting moment only comes at the end of the episode. Whether the real-time element will work remains to be seen in the rest of the series.
So far it lacks the urgency that other similar series have
In recent years the BBC has regularly treated us to strong, exciting and, above all, topical thrillers. Bodyguard has already been mentioned, but The Capture is also an excellent example of this. Nightsleeper doesn't really offer that combination of tension and current events. It therefore lacks urgency. Little is known about the hackers' motive, so it could go either way.
Nightsleeper starts reasonably well, but there is actually little to say about how it will develop. It is a solid BBC production that looks well, as we have come to expect from them. But that's it. Still, I'm curious to see how things will develop further.
