NIGHTSLEEPER: CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR SECOND SERIES OF HIT BBC THRILLER AS FILMING BEGINS

The BBC has revealed Colin Morgan, Madeleine Mantock and Christian Cooke will lead a new ensemble cast for the second series of the hit real-time thriller Nightsleeper, which is currently filming in Belfast. The series is written by the BAFTA and RTS award-winning Nick Leather and produced by Element Pictures, a Fremantle company, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One.

Morgan (The Boy That Never Was, Belfast) stars as Stephen ‘Bo’ Bowen, Mantock (The Long Song, Up To No Good) plays Beth and Cooke (Rematch, Plainclothes) takes the role of Johnny. Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks, Whitechapel) joins the cast as Richard, Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones, Derry Girls) as Charlie and Sally Lindsay (Cold Call, The Madame Blanc Mysteries) as Lisa.

Also joining are Alexander Arnold (Yesterday, Fuze) as Feeny, Lydia Page (The Confessions of Frannie Langton, Blue Jean) as Lola, Christine Bottomley (Sherwood, Back to Life) as Tanya, Julie Dray (Crashing, Avenue 5) as Ray, Pooky Quesnel (Tip Toe, The A Word) as Sam, Jonathan Harden (Blue Lights, Time) as Simon, Mickey Mason (Silo, No Ordinary Heist) as Damian.

Plus Kevin Harvey (This City is Ours, Time) as Tony, Cúán Hosty-Blaney (Say Nothing, House of Guinness) as Liam, Eileen O’Higgins (Brooklyn, Billy the Kid) as Jo, Samuel Edward-Cook (Peaky Blinders, The Listeners) as Connor, Emily Flain (How to Get to Heaven from Belfast) as Eabha, Tareq Al-Jeddal (Animol, Ridley) as Albie and Sam Hoare (The Capture) as Rusper.

Parth Thakerar (Brassic, Gangs of London), Jonjo O’Neill (Bad Sisters, Andor) and Micah Balfour (EastEnders, Midsomer Murders) will reprise their roles as Saj, Hud and Leon from the first series.

The brand new six-part series sees the action move from the rails to the open water, as a Belfast-to-Liverpool passenger ferry becomes the target of a potentially deadly hack-attack.

With the crew desperately trying to hide the extent of the threat from the passengers, the ferry’s second engineer Johnny must work with the National Cyber Security Centre’s new technical director, Bo, to try and fight back. But as the tide turns, secrets surface and fear floods the decks; it isn’t long before those on land are all at sea too…

Nick Leather says: “It’s so much fun to be embarking on a second Nightsleeper journey on a route I know so well with the Belfast-to-Liverpool ferry as our new box-of-tricks. We’ve assembled such a wonderful cast, I’m so excited about our story and I can’t wait to welcome the audience onboard for a non-stop night to remember…”

Kate Harwood, Executive Producer, says: “We’re excited to be filming this sea faring Nightsleeper adventure in Belfast, Titanic town itself. And to be casting off with such a brilliant bunch of actors led by Colin Morgan, Madeleine Mantock and Christian Cooke with superb directors James Kent and Chris Baugh helming. We look forward to taking Nightsleeper fans in the UK and abroad on another thrilling trip.”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, says: “We're thrilled to have Colin, Madeleine and Christian lead this new series of Nightsleeper. Nick has delivered another brilliantly gripping story, and with danger lurking beneath the surface at every turn, viewers are in for a truly nail-biting journey.”

The first series of Nightsleeper is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.