Nightsleeper: Everything you need to know about new 'real time' BBC thriller series including release date

Hijack thriller Nightsleeper will be released later this month, with a cast including Scottish actors such as James Cosmo and Alex Ferns.

Here’s everything you need to know about Nightsleeper, from its cast and filming locations to where to watch.

What is it about?

Unfolding in real time, the six part series is set aboard a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London as it is “hackjacked” – hijacked by hackers – en route. It follows train passenger and off duty cop Joe Roag (Cole) as he works with the acting technical director at the National Cyber Security Centre, Abby Aysgarth (Roach), as they try to save the lives of the train’s passengers and figure out who has hijacked the train.

Nightsleeper was created by BAFTA award winning writer Nick Leather, whose previous work includes The Control Room and Mother’s Day, and unlike the majority of television shows its events unfold in real time - reflecting the train journey.

In an earlier interview with The Scotsman, Cosmo said: “It’s set in real-time, so I really think it’s something that people should binge-watch. I really like the idea that you can sit down and spend a whole evening watching something now.”

Nightsleeper cast

Leading the cast of Nightsleeper is Welsh actress Alexandra Roach as Abby Aysgarth, the Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre and English actor Joe Cole as Joe Roag, an off-duty police officer. Roach is best known for her roles in Utopia and No Offence, while Cole has appeared in shows including Gangs of London and Peaky Blinders.

Other cast members include Scottish performers such as Barbie actress Sharon Rooney, Harry Potter’s Cho Chang, Katie Leung and Scott Reid who is best known for playing Methadone Mick in Still Game.

The full cast of Nightsleeper

• Alexandra Roach as Abby Aysgarth
• Joe Cole as Joe Roag
• Alex Ferns
• Sharon Small as Liz Draycott
• James Cosmo as Fraser Warren
• David Threlfall as Paul Peveril
• Daniel Cahill
• Lois Chimimba
• Gabriel Howell
• Katie Leung
• Leah MacRae
• Ruth Madeley
• Adam Mitchell as Mouse,
• Pamela Nomvete as Nicola Miller
• Scott Reid
• Sharon Rooney as Yasmin Brown
• Parth Thakerar as Saj Sidhu

Nightsleeper filming locations

Nightsleeper was primarily in Scotland, in locations around Glasgow – including Glasgow Central – as well as studio spaces in Finnieston and at the now shut Pioneer Film Studios in Stepps.

It was in this studio that production created various recreations of three sleeper carriages, which were surrounded by LED screens throughout filming.

Roach called the set “absolutely incredible”, while Cole described how the screens displayed images which had been recorded along the Glasgow to London journey.

Cole said: "We had to pretend we were on a train the whole time. They 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.”

It was reportedly so realistic that some actors needed motion sickness pills while filming.

Nightsleeper release date

Nightsleeper will be released on BBC iPlayer at 6am on Sunday, September 15.

It will be broadcast on BBC One at 9pm on Sunday, September 15, with episodes coming each Sunday and Monday night for three weeks following its release.