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Train from East stars in BBC's Nightsleeper drama

Euston Films/BBC In a still from the Nightsleeper drama, the actor Alexandra Roach is seen sitting in a seat on a train. She has dark glasses on her head and is holding a mobile phone in each hand. The shot is taken down the carriage's corridor and red seats, most of them empty can be seen.Euston Films/BBC
Nightsleeper star Alexandra Roach in a scene from the drama featuring the revamped commuter train

A train that once carried the region's commuters to London has played a starring role in a hit BBC drama.

The Class 321 train was retired by Greater Anglia in 2023 and bought by Great Yarmouth-based Eastern Rail Services, a company that hires rolling stock to film and TV production companies.

It appeared in the first episode of Nightsleeper, a tense drama set on a train hacked by cyber criminals. The finale of series one is on BBC One at 21:00 BST on Monday.

The Class 321, which once carried commuters from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, had to be rebranded with Gatwick Express livery and taken to Glasgow by road for filming.

The Class 321 train in sidings at Great Yarmouth

James Steward, director of Eastern Rail Services, said his company had worked with many film and drama producers.

He said: "Sometimes when you get involved in film and TV, you put in an awful lot of effort for about 10 seconds on screen but actually, this one featured quite heavily throughout episode one.

"The actual train is a Class 321 commuter unit. These were used extensively between London, Ipswich and Norwich for 30 or 40 years.

"Greater Anglia retired them out of service and we thought they would be popular for film and TV because they represent ultra-modern trains.

"We were approached to represent a Gatwick Express train and asked whether we could dress it up to look like that, which we ended up doing."

Andrew Turner/BBC James Steward in a blue shirt, sitting on the red upholstered seats of the Gatwick Express-dressed train that appeared in NightsleeperAndrew Turner/BBC
James Steward, from Eastern Rail Services, inside the old commuter train, refurbished with Gatwick Express livery for Nightsleeper

Mr Steward, who also works for a train operating company, said many rail enthusiasts had pointed out inaccuracies in the Nightsleeper plot, with several telling him how they would have foiled the cyber criminals who had hacked the train.

"At the end of the day it's a story. It's not meant to represent true life. It's a drama, it's got to be interesting," he said

"Ultimately, people who know the railways know the story could be finished within five minutes in the real world, which wouldn't be particularly good TV, and so a lot of it is conjecture and magic just for the story."

Euston Films/BBC A group of passengers can be seen at one end of a train carriage. In the foreground a woman looks at a mobile phone screen. She is out of focus.Euston Films/BBC
Another Nightsleeper scene that featured the Class 321, once used to transport commuters from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex

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