PEAKY Blinders actor JOE COLE has got his first leading TV role – in a new thriller series set on a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London.
I revealed in December that BBC1’s six-parter Nightsleeper was in the works, and filming got under way recently in Scotland.
Joe, who played John Shelby in the Beeb’s award-winning Brummie gangster hit, will co-star with Utopia actress Alexandra Roach.
A TV insider revealed: “This is a huge deal for Joe, it’s his first leading part.
“He certainly thinks he has earned the right to take on the pres- sure that goes with it.
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"Show bosses are delighted with the cast choices and are excited to get going.”
Nightsleeper is written by Nick Leather, creator of last year’s BBC One thriller series The Control Room.
The plot has been compared with 2018’s BBC One drama Bodyguard and the 1994 Keanu Reeves action thriller movie Speed.
Nightsleeper’s story will follow the fate of passengers on board the Heart of Britain service.
Their safety is in the hands of two people who have never met, as the train hurtles towards what may be its final destination.
One of the pair is on board, while the other, from a government agency, will assist from a separate location in a bid to control the rapidly escalating events inside the train.
Joe got his acting break-through with teen drama Skins in 2012 but Peaky Blinders elevated his profile to a whole new level.
He has also starred in gritty TV dramas Gangs Of London and Black Mirror, and appeared in 2017 film A Prayer Before Dawn.
That was based on the true story of a British boxer jailed in Thailand who must fight in tournaments to win his freedom.
The performance won Joe the Best Actor award at the 2018 British Independent Film Awards.
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Alexandra was also in an episode of Black Mirror, which was written by Charlie Brooker as well as hit TV dramas Death In Paradise and Killing Eve.
Nightsleeper is tipped to air on Sundays at 9pm.
It would be the coveted BBC One slot previously occupied by blockbuster dramas including Line Of Duty and Happy Valley.
No pressure then.
