IRISH-FOUNDED production company Element Pictures has been commissioned to create the second series of Nightsleeper.
The BBC thriller will return to our screens next year, but this time the action is set on the Irish Sea.
The first series followed the fictional Heart of Britain sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London, where two strangers were forced to work together to save the lives of its passengers.
The real-time series, which aired in September 2024, became the BBC’s biggest new drama launch of the year – with the first episode reaching 8.5m viewers.
This time around the action moves from the rails to the open water, as the drama unfolds aboard a ship travelling across the Irish Sea.
Writer Nick Leather said he is “so excited” to get started on the project.
“The passengers and crew on tonight’s Belfast to Liverpool passenger ferry are about to experience six hours of non-stop thrills and spills, secrets and lies, triumphs and tragedies,” he explained.
“None of them are quite as they seem.
“Nothing in their lives will ever be the same again. Not all of them will make it to the other side.
“The new Nightsleeper is going to be more nightsleepery than ever…”
The six-episode series was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, and will be produced by Dublin-based Element Pictures.
Freemantle bought a majority stake in the Irish firm, created and led by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, in 2022.
The pair continue to lead the firm, which has offices in Dublin, Belfast and London.
Filming on Nightsleeper will begin in Belfast later this year.
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