Nightsleeper: Inside Scotland's new 'real-time' BBC TV train thriller starring James Cosmo

It is the big new TV hijack thriller set to become Scotland’s answer to the Hollywood blockbusters Speed and The Poseidon Adventure.

The night train hurtling from Glasgow to London is the setting for a six-part “white-knuckle” series charting the frantic efforts to save the lives of a group of passengers on a sleeper service being controlled by cyber terrorists as it hurtles south.

A host of Scottish screen stars will play the passengers and crew caught up in the chilling “hackjack”, including James Cosmo, Alex Ferns, Sharon Small, Katie Leung, Leah MacRae, Daniel Cahill, Sharon Rooney, Lois Chimimba, and Still Game stars Scott Reid and Gavin Mitchell.

Nightsleeper, which will launch on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer on September 15, will be told in “real-time” through two characters who never meet, but have to work together to try to avert disaster after control of the “Heart of Britain” service is lost shortly leaving Glasgow Central.

With the UK’s entire rail network coming under attack and a senior British politician on board, audiences will be kept guessing on which characters can be trusted or not.

Nightsleeper’s creator Nick Leather got the idea for the series, which will also star David Threlfall, Ruth Madeley, Adam Mitchell, Pamela Nomvete and Parth Thakerar, despite having never been on a sleeper service.

Instead, his experiences of being stuck on a broken-down train between Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside and Manchester for hours partly provided inspiration for Nightsleeper, which he developed during the filming of his thriller The Control Room in Glasgow.

He said: “The first idea I had was to do some kind of real-time thing. There was something about the challenge of it. I like to do things that scare me.

"I also fancied writing some kind of locked-room mystery. I thought ‘what if that room was moving and there was loads of action?’ I started thinking about trains and whether there could be a six-hour journey.

"There aren’t that many of them, but I knew about the Glasgow-London sleeper, which I hadn’t actually been on at the time. I also really fancied doing some kind of cyber thing. I thought that if it was possible to hack a train, it would give me the best of both worlds.

"I went on the Caledonian Sleeper from Glasgow and by the time I got to London I knew there was a show there. I had no idea there was a club lounge and a seated carriage.

"There were also very different people on the train. I thought if we could create something that forces them together and makes them all go insane over the course of six hours, it would be my kind of show.”

The writer admitted his “guilty pleasure” was watching disaster movies.

He said: “As a kid, The Poseidon Adventure was absolutely one of favourite films. The Towering Inferno is another one.

“I loved it when there was a group of completely different characters. There would be older people, unlikely heroes and some people who had a meltdown and become a liability.

“I certainly haven’t that in a British series before. I thought that it would be a really fun thing to do in 2024, with the hackjack element to bring it right up to date.”

In Nightsleeper, Peaky Blinders and Gangs of London star Joe Cole plays Joe, an off-duty detective on the late-night service, while Abby, acting technical director of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, is played by Alexandra Roach, star of Utopia, No Offence, Hunderby and The Witch Farm.

Roach said: “When we meet Abby she is about to board a flight and go on holiday. But this is someone who doesn’t go on holiday. The cyber world is her life and she doesn’t really know who she is outside of that world.

"She is very instinctive and is almost one step ahead of everybody.

"She is really focused and ambitious. The pressure is really on her shoulders. Part of her really enjoys that, but she has a lot of self-doubt. She hasn’t dealt with anything like this before. It’s a huge leap.”

Cole said: “Joe is trying to keep his head down on the train as he heads to London to right some wrong and fix some past mistakes when he is suddenly thrust into a life or death situation.

“Joe and Abby realise that by working together they are the two people who are most likely to be able to stop this thing.”

Nightsleeper was filmed almost entirely in Scotland, including in Glasgow Central itself, as well as in temporary studio spaces in Finnieston and Stepps, with the latter playing host to various recreations of three sleeper carriages.

Cole said: "We had to pretend we were on a train the whole time. There had these LED screens running alongside the carriages.

"The whole journey from Glasgow had been pre-recorded, so wherever we were in the script we could go there at the touch of a button so we had all this stuff to react to.”

Roach said: “We worked on an absolutely incredible set. The stakes were really high from the beginning of episode one. We are all kind of thrown into this situation with a group of actors that we didn’t know.

“It is an action thriller, but what I loved about it was that it’s so character-driven. You don’t normally see these kind of characters in action thrillers. I think it’s what makes this series a bit different.”

Cole said: "One of the best things about Nightsleeper is that it shows ordinary people that you will be able to relate to. You will have similar family members to or have sat opposite them on a train. The cast brought so much charisma and personality to their roles, which are sometimes smaller on the page. I think people will really see that.

"I’m quite surprised that no-one has really made anything like this before. The UK’s trains are the spine of our transport network. Everyone has been on a train and had some kind of nightmare on one.

"I think the real-time element adds a certain intensity and jeopardy. We live in a world where everyone is on their phones and no-one has got time to concentrate on anything.

"What’s brilliant about this show is that it all happens in real time in front of your eyes. It’s very easy to become absorbed in it.”

Roach said: “I think it will be very immersive for the audience. They will find out information at the same time as our two characters. They can play along and try to work out their next steps.

"Joe and Abby are both very human and flawed. They make mistakes, which you don’t really see in action thriller heroes. I think people will really enjoy seeing them working together.”