As the opening episode of Nightsleeper begins, Joe Roag (Joe Cole) approaches the train to London from Glasgow. The journey will be 410 miles and 316 minutes. A woman at a piano (Leah Byrne) sends someone a message asking if they’re ready. Joe walks past a man speaking to his son, Max ‘Mouse’ Ellis (Adam Mitchell). A man nearby reviews the message from the piano woman. He grabs a woman who pushes her stroller. Joe stops the stroller. Joe chases the man onto the train along with others. They run past Yas Brown (Sharon Rooney) at one point. Fraser Warren (James Cosmo) walks with Kyle Warren (James McAnerney) and Sophie Warren (Leah MacRae). Joe chases the man who runs into Fraser. Rachel Li (Katie Leung) asks the running man if she can help him.

Sarah tries to get in touch with her while Joe and the man look at each other. A man shows up behind Joe and tells him he’s with them. Then, they begin chasing after the purse thief. Danny Geoghan (Daniel Cahill) asks the man what he’s playing at when he finds him crawling on the floor. The man turns and walks in the opposite direction. Joe stops him and reveals he’s a police officer. The other man betrays Joe and flees with the purse thief. Billy McCloud (Scott Reid) is knocked down at one point. The man escapes the train, but Joe grabs the purse. The men let him have it and flee. Joe returns the purse moments back. Joe returns the purse to the woman. Ian Crieff (Douglas Russell) tries to calm everyone and get them back onto the train. The female victim agrees to speak to police but she’s not going on the train.

Ian tells Andy Maver (Gavin Mitchell) they’re good to go. Joe is upgraded to thank him for his help. The woman with the stroller pushes it into a dark alley and leaves it. Then, she throws the bag in the trash and joins the others. The woman with the baby (Paula Nugent) tells the piano woman that they did it. They hit the stroller when they drive away. Ian finds some type of electronic device on the train so he calls the driver. He can’t get in touch with anyone and the emergency stop button doesn’t work. At Gatwick Airport, Abby Aysgarth (Alexandra Roach) is with  Meg Hooton (Remy Beasley). Abby takes a call from Tobi McKnight (Gabriel Howell) who is spazzing out. It’s an emergency. At the National Cyber Security Centre, Saj Sidhu (Parth Thakerar) receives a call from Abby who asks if one of the UK’s biggest antivirus firms has a virus.

The antivirus is used by millions of companies across the country. Saj tells them to leave it to them. Abby decides to cancel her trip and meet Tobi. Ian asks to speak to Joe in private. Joe checks out the device. Lindsey Ellis (Kim Chapman) interrupts to say her son has gone missing. She asks Ian if they can make an announcement, but he explains they’re having a few problems with the communication system. He says he’ll send a colleague down to help. When they’re alone, Joe tries to get more information from Ian. They don’t have phone coverage and can’t contact anyone. Ian believes someone did this when they were chasing the thief. They’ve deleted the CCTV too. The next station is Motherwell. Joe doesn’t want to wait that long. He asks the passengers if anyone has a signal on their phone.

No one can help. Ian tells Billy about the missing kid. Danny tells Joe that it seems he has coverage. He has a satellite phone because he works on an oil rig. Abby worries that critical infrastructure will be compromised. Saj tries to downplay it. He argues that Tobi shouldn’t have called her. Saj urges Abby to get on the plane. Abby decides to return to the plane. Leon (Micah Balfour) tells Saj that a guy just called General with an urgent alert. He really believes Abby should take this if she’s still available. Abby hears and decides to speak to Joe. She explains she’s the Acting Technical Director for the NCSC. Joe tells her he’s on the Heart of Britain which is the Glasgow to London nightsleeper service. Saj confirms the UK rail network uses the antivirus. Joe tells Abby that he’s done a couple of training days at her place.

Once Abby learns more about the device, she says it’s an SBC or a single board computer. Abby calls Saj to tell him the Heart of Britain may have been hacked. She’s praying the train is still going to stop in Motherwell. If it does, they need to get a police team and cyber team on board. Abby asks if there are other trains experiencing such problems. Joe contemplates messing with the hacking device, but Abby tells him that wouldn’t be wise. They talk about the fact that the train might not stop at Motherwell. Joe questions how this is happening. Abby asks Meg if she can get the other passengers to turn it down. Meg reminds her she used to be fun. Abby denies it and Meg agrees. Danny asks how long it’s going to take because he’s waiting for an important call. Joe tells Abby about the guy who stole the bag and how they were delayed for eight minutes.

It must’ve happened at that point. Abby gets in touch with Pev (David Threlfall) who is partying at a concert. She messages explaining everything he said would happen has happened. Abby asks him to come to the centre immediately. Rachel Li interrupts to check the device and to say she’s a lifestyle trends reporter. She’s going to send a different story now. Abby gets back in touch with Joe and they talk about music. General Director Nicola Miller (Pamela Nomvete) contacts Abby and says this is happening within two hours of her Mansion House speech. There are no other problems with other trains. The Transport Security has been elusive. Security, Police Scotland, and the BTP are all claiming operational control but Abby will have it. Nicola urges her not to call Paul Peveril under any circumstances.

Pev messages Abby to say he’s on his way. Saj says the police are on the scene and the train seems to be slowing. They believe it’s going to stop as planned. They’ve got facial recognitions back from Glasgow Central. There’s an Interpol Red out for someone on the train. Tobi says they disappeared while released on investigation at the end of the last year. He shows them a picture of the person in question. Abby sends a description of the person to Joe. He’s a white male around 35 and he’s wearing a red and black checked jacket. Joe believes that’s him so he tries to flee. Abby is told he used to be a DI in the Met. The train reaches Motherwell. Authorities begin searching for Joe who calls for a cab. Saj says they are receiving reports of signaling problems in more places. Nicola asks about Liz Draycott (Sharon Small). She just happens to be on the Heart of Britain as well.

Despite the orders, Liz tells Kate Nisbet (Naomi Yang) she’s not going out there because she doesn’t want pictures taken of her on the platform. Kate says she’ll see what she can do. Joe sneaks around the train in hopes of getting off. He ends up finding Mouse who is playing a video game. Fraser gets upset because he doesn’t need anyone to help him get off the train. Chrissy Doolan (Ruth Madeley), who is in a wheelchair, tells Yas that she’ll have to move stuff because the area is not accessible. Aaron Moy (Alex Ferns) refuses to get off until there’s another train to get on. Lindsey still can’t find Mouse who is hiding with Joe. Mouse and Joe talk about the game he’s playing. Joe listens to Billy instructs the others to get off the train. Mouse goes out and is promptly found by an officer and Billy. He claims no one else is in there.

Mouse wants to go back for his console. They leave him alone. Yas tries to get help with the wheelchair and Chrissy. The hacking device beeps before turning green. Mouse and Joe shake hands. They try to get off the train but the doors won’t open. Joe tries to get Mouse off the train, but the door won’t open. Before long, the train turns on and begins moving. Joe can’t get the doors to open. He runs past Erin Connolly (Lois Chimimba) when she comes out of the bathroom. Erin asks Joe where everyone is. Abby arrives at Victoria Station and asks Saj for an update. He tells her that the train has left the station with some passengers onboard. The driver was left behind. Tobi believes they have a hostage situation. Abby wants to stop every train. On the screen, Abby sees a message saying, “I am the driver”.

Next, it says, “Tonight, I am in control”. Joe calls Abby to say he’ll help her but she’ll need to help him.

 

Nightsleeper Review

The first episode of BBC’s Nightsleeper was a bit of a mess and underwhelming overall. This has the potential to get more interesting once it slows down, but some viewers may not be willing to stick around after the opener. Truthfully, I expected a bit more seriousness and less overall corniness.

It appears the series is trying to walk a fine line between fast-paced drama and black comedy. Neither of those elements worked very well in the opening episode. Despite being fast paced, the episode was very messy and boring at other times. At this point, there are no characters worth cheering for and many of them are written dumbly.

There are obviously going to be lots of plot holes and things that can easily be nitpicked. On top of that, there are a bit too many coincidences for my liking making the whole thing unbelievable. We’re having to bend reality a great deal to accept what we’re being fed here. Joe Cole is good for the role, but the script doesn’t do the character justice like it did in The Ipcress File.

The overall bloated cast is also concerning because there are many characters that will likely amount to nothing. Not to mention, the casting features the same old tropes that have become mandatory. The opening episode definitely wasn’t gripping, but it may get better going forward.

Watching another episode is likely justified now that the cast should shrink and the story should zero in a little more. However, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this was disappointing when the final credits roll. The episode scores a 5 out of 10. Recaps of Nightsleeper can be found on Reel Mockery here.

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