+ Q&A with actors Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole, writer Nick Leather and executive producer Kate Harwood
Nightsleeper is a real-time thriller for BBC iPlayer and BBC One. Created by BAFTA-winning writer Nick Leather, it is a six-part series in which a train is ‘hackjacked’ and driven through one single night from Glasgow to London on an uncertain journey. Part fast-moving heart-in-mouth action-adventure and part twisty-turny whodunnit detective story, it’s a roller coaster drama where no-one is ever quite who they seem.
Leading the fight are Joe Roag, a cop who is a passenger on the train and Abby Aysgarth, the acting technical director at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). But who are they fighting? And how can they win against the self-styled ‘Driver’ who seems one step ahead of every solution?
There’s a small team working the night shift alongside Abby and a handful of passengers left on the train with Joe but are they all as innocent as you’d think? Who can they trust? Who can we trust? Are there people on board who know more than they are letting on?
Alexandra Roach was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales. A fluent Welsh speaker, Roach appeared in long-running television soap Pobol y Cwm in her early teens and won Best Juvenile Actor in a Soap at the Children in Entertainment Awards. After leaving the series in 2005, she spent time with the National Youth Theatre of Wales before going on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating with a B.A. in acting in 2010.
In May 2010 Roach appeared in The Door Never Closes by Rex Obano at the Almeida Theatre. A number of high-profile roles followed, including Sasha in Being Human, Beth Partridge in Candy Cabs, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (in which she played notorious child murderer Constance Kent).
Roach starred as a young Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. Other film appearances include: Anna Karenina (2012), One Chance (2013), Testament of Youth (2014), The Kid Who Would Be King (2019), A Guide to Second Date Sex (2019) and This Is Christmas (2022).
She appeared as Helene in Sky Comedy’s Hunderby (2012) and was cast as Molly in the film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel Private Peaceful. She was included on the Screen International ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ list in 2011. In 2013, she starred in the British TV series Utopia. In the same year, Roach appeared in the ITV comedy Vicious, as Ash’s vegan girlfriend Chloe and returned to the role in 2015. In 2014, she appeared in the inaugural episode of the BBC One TV film Walter. In 2015 she starred in the TV series No Offence as DS Joy Freers. She has also made appearances in series including Inside No. 9, Black Mirror and Killing Eve.
Some of Joe Cole’s most notable roles include: Luke in Skins, John Shelby in Peaky Blinders, Marzin and Beckwith in Secret in Their Eyes, Billy Moore in A Prayer Before Dawn, Frank in the Black Mirror, Sean Wallace in Gangs of London, and Iver Iversen in Against the Ice.
Cole’s acting career began when he was accepted into the National Youth Theatre. He obtained his first roles in a one-night show in the West End, on The Bill and Holby City, and then in roles on stage at the Bush Theatre’s sell-out School Season. In the 2010s, he wrote a comedy series with Matt Lucas.
From 2013 to 2017, Cole starred as John Shelby in the historical crime drama Peaky Blinders. In 2017, he starred in a season 4 episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, earning a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor.
For his role as Billy Moore in A Prayer Before Dawn, Cole won Best Actor at the 2018 British Independent Film Awards.
Writer Nick Leather’s work includes The Control Room (Hartswood/BBC1), the single dramas Mother’s Day (BBC2/RTE), which was nominated for the Writers Guild Award 2019 for Best Short-Form Drama, the RTS for Best Single Drama and won the BANFF Rockie for Best Single Drama; and Murdered for Being Different (BBC3), which won the BAFTA and RTS Awards for Best Single Drama 2018 and was nominated for a Rose D’Or, Broadcast and British Screenwriters’ Award.
Previous productions credits include Jimmy McGovern’s drama series Broken (BBC1) and The Worst Witch (CBBC/Netflix), for which he was nominated for a Writers’ Guild Award 2018. He created the children’s drama series Rocket’s Island, which ran for three seasons, won a Prix Jeunesse and was BAFTA nominated for ‘Best Children’s Drama’ in 2014 and 2016.
Current original commissions include: Nightsleeper (Euston Films), Project Insider (Kudos), The Dream Factory (Big Talk), Costa del Criminal (Castlefield).
For the theatre, Nick’s debut stageplay All the Ordinary Angels was produced at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre and won the Pearson Award for Best New Play, Billy Wonderful was produced at the Liverpool Everyman.
Kate Harwood is a British television producer. She became managing director of a revived Euston Films in summer 2014.
Harwood has spent over 15 years working at the BBC, and became an executive producer in the BBC Drama Serials department. As a Producer, she has worked on dramas including The Beggar Bride, Close Relations, The Echo, David Copperfield, Man and Boy and BAFTA winner Charles II: The Power and The Passion. In her role as Executive Producer in BBC Drama Serials, she has been responsible for programmes including Crime and Punishment, Daniel Deronda, The Lost World, and Final Demand. Harwood was appointed the executive producer of EastEnders in February 2005, a position she retained until October 2006. In December 2012, Harwood took the position as BBC’s Head of Drama.
In March 2014, it was announced that Harwood was to leave the BBC to take up a position as managing director of Euston Films, previously a highly successful producer of British television drama from the 1970s to the early 1990s, now being revived as a company by owners Fremantle Media.
Boyd Hilton (host) is a journalist, author, TV critic and broadcaster. As well as his two day jobs of Entertainment Director of Heat magazine, where he has worked since its launch in 1999, and Contributing Editor of Empire magazine, Boyd also wrote the book Inside Little Britain with Matt Lucas and David Walliams. He has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 4, reviewing television, books and films for over two decades. He is also Features Editor and contributor to sport/style/culture magazine Circle Zero Eight, and has written for GQ, Man About Town, The Guardian and Observer. Boyd also co-hosts the weekly Pilot TV podcast, covering cinematic television, and the Footballistically Arsenal podcast, covering… Arsenal. He also frequently hosts live on-stage TV and film events, panels and Q&As for BAFTA, the RTS and the BFI, ITV, BBC, Sky and many others.
NIGHTSLEEPER
Director: Jamie Magnus Stone
©: BBC/Euston Films
Production Company: Euston Films
Executive Producers: Kate Harwood, Nick Leather, Jamie Magnus Stone
Producer: Jonathan Curling
Writers: Laura Grace, Nick Leather
Cinematographer: Arthur Mulhern
Editors: Pd Hardy, Liana Del Giudice, Stephen O’Connell
Production Designer: Tom Sayer
Composer: Tommy Reilly
Cast
Joe Cole (Joe Roag)
Alexandra Roach (Abby Aysgarth)
Kim Chapman (Lindsey Ellis)
Adam Mitchell (Max ‘Mouse’ Ellis)
James Cosmo (Fraser Warren)
Katie Leung (Rachel Li)
Sharon Small (Liz Draycott)
Alex Ferns (Aaron Moy )
Sharon Rooney (Yas Brown)
Parth Thakerar (Saj Sidhu)
Gabriel Howell (Tobi McKnight)
Ruth Madeley (Chrissy Doolan)
Scott Reid (Billy McCloud)
Lois Chimimba (Erin Connolly)
Naomi Yang (Kate Nisbit)
Daniel Cahill (Danny Geoghan)
Remy Beasley (Meg Hooton)
Pamela Nomvete (Nicola Miller)
Leah MacRae (Sophie Warren)
Gavin Mitchell (Andy Maver)
James McAnerney (Kyle Warren)
John Scougall (British Transport Police officer)
Jasmine Naziha Jones (Zed Hylton)
Micah Balfour (Leon Parhill)
Murray Fraser (Police Scotland Officer Cal McKinsey)
Caleb Hughes (Gatwick Express train manager)
Matthew Streeton, Anne Jermy _ (Victoria Station announcers)_
Leah Byrne (woman at the piano)
Douglas Russell (Ian Crieff)
Paula Nugent (woman with baby)
UK 2024
Episode 1 60 mins
Digital
Total running time 110 mins
IN PERSON & PREVIEWS
TV Preview: Nightsleeper + Q&A with actors Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole, writer Nick Leather and executive producer Kate Harwood
Mon 9 Sep 18:15
The Quay Brothers in Conversation
Thu 12 Sep 18:30
The Quay Brothers: Short Films + intro by The Quay Brothers
Thu 12 Sep 20:40
Robin of Sherwood: 40th Anniversary + Q&A with director Robert Young and actors Nikolas Grace, Philip Jackson and Phil Davies
Sat 14 Sep 12:00
Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI
Mon 16 Sep 18:30; Mon 7 Oct 18:30
Reece Shearsmith presents: The Elephant Man
Tue 17 Sep 18:00
The Thief and the Cobbler: A Moment in Time + Q&A with Imogen Sutton
Sun 22 Sep 14:30
Zardoz + Q&A with writer-director John Boorman
Wed 18 Sep 18:00
60th Anniversary Screening: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb + Q&A with Armando Iannucci, Sean Foley and Steve Coogan
Thu 26 Sep 18:10
Funday Workshop: Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Sun 29 Sep 10:30
Funday: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit + intro by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham
Sun 29 Sep 12:00
Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham in Conversation
Sun 29 Sep 14:15
TV Preview: The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee + Q&A with Peter Serafinowicz, director Jon Spira, producer Hank Starrs and Christopher Lee’s biographer Jonathan Rigby
Tue 1 Oct 18:00
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Programme notes and credits compiled by Sight and Sound and the BFI Documentation Unit
Notes may be edited or abridged
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