Nightsleeper has kept viewers on the edge of their seats since it premiered on BBC One, yet its cheesy script has also made it the butt of many online jokes!
The six-part thriller tells the story of a train that’s hacked by terrorists as it travels between Glasgow and London, with off-duty copy Joe Roag (Joe Cole) and cyber security boss Abby Aysgarth (Alexandra Roach) trying to avert disaster.Â
Yet its script has been lambasted by critics and viewers alike, with lines such as “next time I’m taking the Megabus”, “they’re beyond maximum speed!” and “delay repay isn’t going to touch the sides”, attracting much opprobrium.Â
However while the show’s stars admitted the drama has some cheesy dialogue, they’ve both defended the show created by BAFTA-winner Nick Leather.Â
“When I first read the script I thought there were some cheesy lines,” says Joe Cole, who plays off-duty cop Joe Roag. “But I enjoyed the challenge of trying to make it believable, grounded and authentic. I enjoyed the sort of sarcastic, slightly cheesy banter. A lot of the time we Brits deal with challenging situations with humour and I think there’s quite a lot of humour in the show.”Â
He also defended a scene where the two leading stars sang Kate Nash’s 2007 hit “Foundation” down the phone to each other in the opening episode.Â
“I love those lines, you’ll never take those lines away from me!” said Cole when we asked him about it last month. “I started on Skins, and I had so much cheese on toast with a slice of halloumi, it was a joke. I think that’s part of the fun, that’s part of the challenge.”Â
Cole’s co-star Alexandra Roach also says the Kate Nash scene is one of her favourite parts of the show and reminds her of a time when she and Cole were starting out in the acting industry together.Â
“I love that moment,” she says. “They’re in an emergency and you need those light moments early on that really bond them. I think they really like each other and they trust each other. There’s an element of danger, because they don’t know anything about each other, so singing a Kate Nash song kind of makes them human and I like that.”
“That song was from our college days,” adds Joe. “It defines an era!”Â
Nightsleeper continues on Sunday 22nd September on BBC One. The whole series is availble as a boxset on iPlayer.Â
