“I loved how real it was,” says Alex Roach. We’re sitting down to discuss Nightsleeper, BBC’s new pulse-pounding thriller that follows two people who’ve never met: Joe Roag, an off-duty police officer played by Joe Cole, aboard a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London, and Roach’s Abby Aysgarth, the acting technical director at the National Cyber Security Centre. The story unfolds in real-time — the train’s system has been hacked, and the duo must work together to save the passengers as the journey hurtles towards what could be its final destination.

“You hope that if something like this happened, the people in charge would be completely prepared and experienced,” she continues. “These characters are trying their best but they are flawed and you see them trying to work it out and sometimes they get it wrong. It felt very human, very real.”

Catching up with Wonderland, the Welsh actor reflects on her relationship with her craft, two decades since her industry debut, a whirlwind summer filming Amazon’s Lazarus, and what’s next. Keep reading…

​​Hi Alex! Thanks so much for chatting with us. How have you been? How’s life treating you recently?
I’ve been really well thank you! Enjoying the summer; a good balance of family, friends, work and some festivals. Can’t complain.

It’s been a busy summer for you! Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at the moment.
I’ve just wrapped filming on Lazarus for Amazon and now I’m focussing on my writing and promoting Nightsleeper that comes out on BBC One mid-September. We shot it last year so feels like it’s been a while, I’m ready to get it out there.

How was your creative upbringing? Did you always know you wanted to be an actor? What and who inspired your early career days?
I’m not sure I’d call it a creative upbringing. I was quite a shy, sensitive kid. My Mum would always prioritise reading and storytelling and that for sure opened up the world to me and my imagination. I remember one caravan holiday, I must have been around 10, I created a whole play about the people staying next door. They had no idea they were the main characters of my story and were quite oblivious. I stayed in, writing everything down. I had no interest in heading to the beach. I think in essence I’m exactly the same today. So I guess people have always inspired me. My grandmother spraying her hair with Elnet while smoking a cigarette, women chatting in groups in the town centre of my hometown, these little moments that I notice and that sparks something, a character, a scene, sometimes nothing. When I’m at a gig, I always find it hard to focus on the DJ or artist playing, I get distracted watching all the people around me. Their behaviours, being curious about their story. Sounds a bit weird saying it out loud now actually… ha.

You’ve been acting since you were 11 years old. What do you think has changed the most since you started? Do you still feel as connected with the craft as you used to?
So much has changed and nothing has changed. It’s so odd to think I’ve been doing this for over 20 years! Crazy. I weirdly feel more connected to the craft at the moment. It comes and goes. Some characters require more work than others, some I know who they are the second I read the script. I love the newness and challenge of playing all these people. I think individuality is being celebrated more these days which is great, I remember feeling a huge pressure to ‘fit in’ when I was younger, the pressure to look and sound a certain way. I guess everyone has that in one way or another but I felt to get the parts I had to hide who I really was and pretend I was someone else even in the audition. To be more of a blank canvas for them to project the part onto me. Now, I’m not sure if it’s getting older or more confident in myself but now I’m like, I’m going to bring them a bold choice. The lines are always blurred between the character and me, I’m bringing so much of myself to the part, my full, messy, real self. If they like it great, if they don’t, then that’s not my problem.

Before we jump into your current projects, I’d love to hear a bit more about RESTING. What is this project about and what inspired you to start working on it?
I set up RESTING with fellow actor, Amy Wren as we looked round the industry and saw actors struggling after the pandemic. Ourselves included. We wanted to bring the joy back into it. Selfishly it was what I was craving at the time and I was curious if others were too. I craved community. To take classes with other actors, to play like we used to as kids with no pressure of booking a job. To open up the conversation around mental health in the industry, safety and wellbeing. To be around other actors who get it.

Congrats on Nightsleeper! Tell us a bit about the story and what about the script initially interested you.
Thank you. Nightsleeper is a real-time thriller about the attempted hacking of a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London and a government agency’s efforts to intervene. Two people who’ve never met, one on the train and one not, have to work together to save the lives of its passengers as the train hurtles towards what might literally be its final destination.

I loved how real it was. You hope if something like this would happen, then the people in charge would be completely ready for it and experienced. I loved that these characters are trying their best but they are flawed and you see them trying to work it out and sometimes they get it wrong. It felt very human, very real.

Who’s Abby Aysgarth and where will we meet this character in Nightsleeper?
Abby has been working in cyber security since she was head hunted as a teenager after hacking into their systems. Tech is her life, she feels at home in those offices and doesn’t ever log off. She’s climbed her way up and is now ‘acting’ technical director. She’s being forced to take a holiday by her childhood friend so is at the airport when we first see her. She then gets a call that changes everything and brings her back to the office.

What about her excites you the most, and what were the most challenging aspects of playing this character?
Abby’s brave and incredibly smart, her knowledge of tech is amazing and that’s why she’s at this high level she’s at today. She’s also super instinctive and a good leader. But I really related to how human she is, how much self-doubt she has, it’s like a battle in her mind. She’s had to overcome a lot of doubt to be in that position, she’s a working-class kid from South Wales. She has a lot to prove in those offices so there’s a ton of pressure on her shoulders. I also enjoyed how much she enjoys that pressure.

How was your overall experience on set during this project, and what are some of your core memories from that time?
So we shot the cyber office scenes completely separately from the guys on the train. We didn’t cross paths at all. Our studio was a huge warehouse in Glasgow with an incredible incident room and huge screen showing the trains location in the centre. I loved how the director, Jamie Magnus Stone, would encourage us to use the whole space and pace around with a steady cam following us. Having that freedom really freed us up. We quickly found our group dynamic as workers in the office, a group that work really closely together. All the tech would be there on the big screen for us, it was so important for us to enter into the belief of this world quickly. The first scene I shot was a speech I make to the team from the balcony in Ep2. I was so nervous and worried about how to do it. I realised, just in time, that Abby would be feeling these nerves too. She has to stand up there and show herself to everyone as someone to trust, who’s going to lead them through this, and I had to do the same as Alex.

What about this project sets it apart from your other experiences in the film industry, and what are your expectations for its release?
I try to have very little or low expectations when a project is released as you never know how it’s going to be received. That said, I feel like I met Abby at exactly the right time in my life. She made me brave, more honest; she’s changed me. I don’t remember having that before. I let her in so deeply that she’s stayed with me in many ways. That’s something precious to hold on to whatever the outcome on release.

Moving forward, what’s next for you, and what excites you most about the future?
I have no idea what’s next. I have Lazarus coming out on Amazon at some point which is exciting but ultimately, I think I’m waiting to have another Abby type feeling when I read a script, an instinctive feeling of, I have to be the voice of this character. I’m developing my own work at the moment and that feels good and exciting.