A train gets hack-jacked (I picked up the word from the show actually) in the opening minutes of BBC One’s six-episode-long Nightsleeper, causing all the drama and madness – which is supposed to enthrall the audience. As is what usually happens in a series like this, the ending of Nightsleeper is quite shocking, and some of you might find it confusing, and it’s my intention to clear all that up. We’re only focusing on the climax of the series in this article. In case you want to read a detailed recap and our thoughts on the series, please check here.
Spoilers Ahead
Who hack-jacked the Nightsleeper Train?
It’s always the one you’d least suspect isn’t it? My “whodunit” (not a murder mystery, I know, but the term fits) game is pretty strong usually, but I’ve gotta give it to this show here; cause I never thought it would be former Technical Director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Paul Peveril aka Pev. Yes, in the show’s final minutes, Pev himself confirms that it was all his doing, to his successor (and the show lead), acting technical director Abigail Aysgarth, aka Abby.
Nightsleeper does follow the usual format of deceiving the audience into suspecting anyone but the person who’s actually done the (mis)deed. At first, you think it’s former policeman, Joseph Roag, who’s on the train, but soon you realize the guy is inherently good and could’t be the mastermind behind such a thing. He’s also the co-lead, so plot armor saves him, just saying. Then there was Billy, one of the staff on the train who conveniently didn’t have any social media presence (yes, the phrase “digital footprint” was used to describe him) and a Muslim boyfriend. Lifestyle reporter Rachel Lee, who was put on the train to do something more than a puff piece, was also on the suspect list, especially after it was revealed she met one of the people who initially staged the mugging at Glasgow station at the very beginning of the show. University student Erin Connelly made it onto the list by throwing out a bag full of stuff she didn’t want police to find. The show even pointed the fingers at director of GCHQ and Abby’s boss Nicola Miller, as well as tech expert (and Abby’s sort of rival), Saj Sidhu. But in the end, it pulled off the biggest surprise by putting the onus on the eccentric former director.
Why Did Pev Do It?
Pev was fired by Nicola for whistleblowing about a potential terrorist attack on the UK rail. When he was brought back by Abby, who pretty much worshiped him, to handle the crisis he didn’t hesitate to “I told you so” right to Nicola’s face. However, Pev didn’t do the hackjack just out of a grudge against his former employer. He didn’t exactly have any bad intentions either. The reason he did it was to teach a lesson to the authorities and also to prevent UK rail from going fully private. Beyond all the thrill and chill, the privatization of the UK railway has been a serious theme in Nightsleeper and when Pev got to know about it, he realized that he needed to do something. The government was keeping it away from the citizens but Pev thought the people of the UK had the right to know. One thing he got wrong, however, was thinking Nicola was in favor of the privatization. The show makes us see things from Pev’s perspective as well, purposefully tricking us to believe that Nicola is not one of the good ones. But the reality was Nicola was actually against the idea, and she was trying to reason with transport secretary Liz Draycott, who just happened to be on the train for a publicity stunt. Even though Pev doesn’t mention it, I have every reason to think he targeted the Glasgow to London Nightsleeper mainly because the transport secretary was on board. If you think about it, for someone with Pev’s knowledge and expertise, it wasn’t even that hard to pull off the whole thing. All he had to do was anonymously hire some vulnerable people who would do certain things for money, like Nightsleeper staff Yasmine, who was about to lose her job due to downsizing.
Is Pev’s action justified?
Here’s where things get complicated. Even though Pev did the whole thing for the greater good, and he didn’t have any intention of harming anybody; two people did die. Former train driver Fraser, who was onboard, might have been old and frail, but he probably wouldn’t have suffered the heart attack and died on board if Pev hadn’t done what he did. Even if you feel like giving the former AD the benefit of the doubt, you absolutely can’t ignore the other death – oil-rig worker Daniel. He had a pregnant wife waiting at the hospital, whom he would never see again. His newborn daughter will also not see her father ever in her life. Even though Pev blames Daniel for his own death because the oil-rig man dangerously jumped out of the train, which was a foolish thing to do, you have to consider the mental state he was in. Also, it was Danny’s sat-phone through which Joe managed to communicate with Abby for the longest possible time, which eventually saved them all.
Speaking of saving, I also don’t think Pev had any contingency plans either. Sure, he had the belief that Abby was genius enough to stop the train and prevent the disaster, but what if Abby had failed? Especially after Abby managed to disable the single-board computer installed inside the engine of the train, Pev had no control. It was Abby who had to run to the Victoria station and do the whole thing manually. Are we supposed to believe if she had failed, Pev would have managed to save the day somehow? From what we’ve seen in Nightsleeper, it really doesn’t seem so. The conclusion is that Pev’s action was not at all justified. Such a radical move that puts people’s lives at risk, that too with a child on board, is never okay. If you support Pev after watching Nightsleeper, then you really need some help, I would say.
