We are only year on from the thrill-ride of Hijack (and six months from Red Eye) and my heart rate has only just subsided. Now a new UK thriller wants me to fasten my seat belt for Nightsleeper.
This time the action is aboard a train, in ‘real time’ from Glasgow to London.
The genre is not without precedent: The Taking of Pelham 123, Unstoppable, Silver Streak and the aptly-titled Runaway Train.
On this occasion technology takes hold in a cyber ‘hack-jack’ when an overnight train known as the Heart of Britain takes off with no driver, doors locked and a handful of trapped passengers.
They include off-duty policeman Joe (Joe Cole), two train staff (Sharon Rooney, Scott Reid), a journalist (Katie Leung), a politician (Sharon Small), an oil rigger (Daniel Cahill), a retired train veteran (James Cosmo), a student (Lois Chimimba), a young boy (Adam Mitchell) and more.
The opening act is chaotic and tense but it only serves as a prescursor to the real game which thwarts the holiday plans of National Cyber Security Centre Acting Technical Director Abby (Alexandra Roach) and her girlfriend, Meg (Remy Beasley).
Convinced the threat to life is very real, Abby races back to her HQ, summoning Paul (David Threlfall), a skilled old warhorse back to his desk despite the fact he is disliked by colleagues and banned from setting foot in the building.
While the hackers have jammed all the mobile phones on the train, a sole satellite phone allows Joe and Abby to communicate in a race against time. Where is Jack Bauer when you need him?
Despite being a well-worn premise, this 6 part series still delivers. There are twists and turns that create high jeopardy and tension. Having two leads who are not A-List stars, and a cast of relative unknowns, only serves to make this all the more convincing.
Alexandra Roach never plays her part for heroism, while Joe Cole, perhaps leveraging off Lost, is not all he seems. Some of the passengers are given moments to expand, like a good ol’ Irwin Allen disaster flick.
Nightsleeper may not be entirely original, but it brings enough energy to the table to keep you aboard for the ride. Let’s hope we make it to the destination in one piece.
Nightsleeper screens Sunday September 15 on Stan.
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