BBC’s new ‘high octane thriller’ dubbed ‘the next Bodyguard’ by thrilled fans

BBC viewers have praised a new thriller series about a sleeper train that is hacked on a journey from Glasgow to London.

The six-part series Nightsleeper was released by the national broadcaster this week, with the real-time show following a government agency’s frantic efforts to intervene in the rapidly escalating events onboard.

It stars Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole as Joe Roag, an off-duty police officer who must work over the phone with Abby Aysgarth (Alexandra Roach), the Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, as they attempt to bring the train to a halt before it reaches what might quite literally be its final destination.

Since strapping themselves for the twists and turns of the series, viewers have been sharing their opinions on the rollercoaster drama.

‘Been looking forward to Nightsleeper for ages and 😱… high octane thriller that just flew by! Brilliant direction, writing, music… think the BBC has found its next Line of Duty/Bodyguard…’ user terrettcorey posted on X.

‘Actually, it’s no more absurd than any overblown Hollywood action movie, but it has lots of enjoyably parochial British references in it too. It doesn’t take itself totally seriously,’ sharpeleven shared.

‘I have only seen 2 episodes so far but Nightsleeper is the best thing I’ve seen on the BBC for ages! Real edge of seat stuff and a twist already! I don’t understand why there are so many bad reviews, I guess you can’t please everyone 🙄… I think it’s fab,’ Jennid64 added.

One of those ‘bad reviews’ came from viewer Lloyd, who wrote: ‘Nightsleeper is hilariously awful, but I’m addicted and need to know what happens next!’

Ahead of the show’s release Joe spoke to about the intense storyline.

Reading the script for the six episodes for the first time, the actor wondered ‘how can this get any worse’ for all the characters.

‘I thought the writers might run out of ideas, but it got progressively more bonkers, which is perfect really and what you want and it’s certainly something I’d tune into if I was a viewer,’ he said, adding he became much more aware of the ‘scary’ threat of hacking while filming the series.

‘Yeah, I mean, it was interesting. I was just talking to somebody the other day about they like, “Do you think this could happen?” Just about if this could happen in real life? Although I don’t think it would be in this capacity, it’s a bit scary isn’t it,’ he said.