Nightsleeper review: Thanks to a finely-tooled plot, Joe Cole's new high-concept drama just about stays on the rails

It's the kind of show that on first glance hides plot deficiencies underneath the relentless pace of the action, but a closer look suggests that it's more finely-tooled than that.

It centres on the Heart of Britain, the nightsleeper train of the title, heading from Glasgow to London overnight.

To be honest, it doesn't look like any train I've been on – it's spotlessly clean, for a start – but it has enough room for more than two people to stand in the aisles, and chase to take place onboard.

And that chase turns out to be important, as it distracts the passengers and rail staff for long enough for ne'er-do-wells to sneak on and install a hacking device to give them control of the train.

At the same time, a hugely popular anti-virus software is found to have a virus in it, infecting the entire rail network and rendering it's controls room effectively deaf and blind.

Add in some sort of mobile phone signal blocking software, and everyone is struck dumb too.

Meanwhile, Abby Aysgarth (Alexandra Roach) from the National Cyber Security Centre, is dragged away from her holiday to co-ordinate the response.

So we've got a high-concept runaway train, complicated by our hero – former policeman Joe Roag (played by Peaky Blinders' Joe Cole) – being on the run from Interpol over some missing drug money.

With all this plot, you might expect Nightsleeper to start tottering under the weight of it, but any question you have is answered by the action.

Why don't they just cut the electricity to the train?

Well, apparently the train is 'bimodal', meaning it has diesel backup and keep running for hours.

How do the people on the train contact the authorities?

There's an oil worker freshly off the North Sea platforms, and he comes equipped with a satellite phone.

Why don't they just hack into the hackers' kit?

It's got a 'tripwire' which foils any attempts to shut it down.

Meanwhile, there's all sorts of foreshadowing and plot point setting up. The train makes its first scheduled stop at Motherwell, allowing them to get all the extras off, and leaving us with just a few core cast members on board.

One, Fraser (James Cosmo), happens to be a former train driver with experience on the Heart of Britain.

In a seemingly throwaway remark, Abby claims she “doesn't do lifts”, which surely means a 'trapped in a lift' scene somewhere down the line, while the Transport Secretary (Sharon Small) has a big announcement which will be derailed by a panic of the hack.

Nightsleeper does stretch the credulity somewhat, but it's so intricately put together by writer and creator Nick Leather, with nothing left to chance and every coincidence explainable that it keeps rollicking along nicely.

The cast is one of the best collections of small screen talent you could wish for, as well as leads Roach and Cole, there is Sharon Rooney, Alex Ferns, and Ruth Madeley, not to mention David Threlfall as shabby maverick cyber-tech guy Paul 'Pev' Peveril.

Meanwhile, the dialogue has some zip to it. A lengthy scene in which Abby co-ordinates an initial response to the hack over a pair of mobile phones could drag but it breathless enough to keep up the pace, while the script even makes room for a laugh or two.

When Pev turns up at cyber HQ on a folding bike clad in a hi-vis vest, he declares: “It's what I always say – there's the right way, the wrong way and the railway.”

To which his irascible boss cracks: “Oh God. It's Obi-Wan in a gilet.”

Nightsleeper should be one of those shows which leaves you shaking your head at the absurdity, but it's so well done you can't let the train take the strain.