This Nightsleeper ending explained contains spoilers for episode 6... As we reach the finale of this breakneck drama, The Heart of Britain is hurtling towards London with a handful of passengers aboard.
Luckily Joe Roag (Joe Cole) managed to split the train in half, but while most of the passengers are safely on the second half, he’s still on the front, along with Fraser Warren (James Cosmo), his daughter-in-law Sophie (Leah MacRae), Yas Brown (Sharon Rooney), Billy (Scott Reid) and young Mouse (Adam Mitchel).
Meanwhile it’s been revealed the code used by the terrorists to stage the attack was actually written by Acting Technical Director of NCST, Abby Aysgarth (Alexandra Roach) for an earlier mission, Operation Mashhad.
The code was designed to take charge of a train containing nuclear material in Iran, yet now the BBG have used it to take over the British Rail Network and send The Heart of Britain towards a deadly collision.
Meanwhile Director General, Nicola Miller (Pamela Nomvete) has been in classified discussions with the Minister for Transport, Liz Draycott (Sharon Small) about the sale of UK Rail to French company, Voyeur Rapide. Miller claims Draycott was very keen for the sale, yet the minister denies this.
On the train, Draycott is telling her side of the story to investigative journalist Rachel Li (Katie Leung), who was herself contacted by the BBG and advised to book herself a ticket on The Heart of Britain on the night it was hijacked.
Elsewhere Arran (Alex Fern) is seriously injured after being accidentally shot by Joe Roag (Joe Cole) and Fraser (James Cosmo) has suffered a suspected heart attack. As for Joe, he’s determined to clear his name and get back to London to see his son.
But who is the driver? Is the Minister For Transport telling the truth about the sale of UK Rail? ...and will Joe be able to prove his innocence?
Nightsleeper ending explained
As the second half of the train slowly comes to a halt, the police secure the carriages, yet find Rachel Li has fled into the woods. Saj (Parth Thakerer), while Miller informs Abby the government has decided to step in and pay the ransom. Yet it doesn't work as the terrorists simply ask for more money.
Meanwhile, the police have apprehended Rachel Li and found she had a secret satellite phone in her bag, while Liz Draycott’s assistant has leaked the news of the "hackjack" to the press.
With readymade lawyer Chrissy Doolan (Ruth Madeley) by her side, Rachel explains that she had nothing to do with the hijacking, but fled because she believed she was being framed. However, with the communication jammers left behind on the second half of the train, everyone’s phones are now working.
Abby wants to plug a phone into the device, so she can prevent The Heart of Britain from receiving the commands from the hijackers. She does that by sending as much info as possible to make the system restart and create a window in which she can patch the vulnerability and lock out the terrorists. If she succeeds, the passengers would be able to drive the train themselves, using a laptop.
However, at NCSC, they’ve discovered that someone on the front of the train is receiving messages indicating they are involved. So the passenger involved in the conspiracy is still on the train!
Who was the conspirator on the train?
When Joe gets to the device, he realises crew member Yas Brown (Sharon Rooney) has been a part of the plot all along! “This wasn’t supposed to happen!” she says as she confesses to setting up the device, installing the communication jammers and planting evidence in Rachel’s bag, in a bid to frame her.
The BBG knew Yas was being made redundant from her job and offered her money to carry out these tasks, although she claims she had no idea they were terrorists. (Okay then). However she says she was given a number to contact the terrorists and Abby hopes she can use that to find them, even if they're not picking up.
Meanwhile the train is now heading through outer London and into Victoria station, close to where NCSC is situated. “We are the target!” explains Abby, who - alongside Saj - refuses to leave as the building is evacuated, and instead begins actioning her plan.
However on The Heart of Britain, Fraser has died of heart failure and collapsed on the laptop, destroying it. “You’ve locked The Driver out and there’s no one in control,” says Joe, who explains the update will take six minutes to complete, which is six minutes they don't have.
How did Abby stop the train?
Abby realises that if UK Rail can switch the lights on the way into the station to red, then it could trigger the safety response on the train. The signalling centre isn’t responding, so Abby decides to run to the station to get them to do it from there. “Let me know the second the update is complete!”
However when she gets to the station, she can’t get access to the control room. She heads down the platform to the signal box to try and override the lights with a piece of kit from her suitcase (luckily her mate stuck around with her suitcase when the whole station was being evacuated, eh?)
Saj completes the update in the nick of time and she manages to change the lights, the safety system kicks in and the train grinds to a halt just before smashing through onto the station concourse.
What happened to Joe?
Joe reveals he DID steal the money he was accused of taking and he was heading back to London to see his son, after his ex-wife revealed the truth about his crimes to the youngster.
When the train comes to a stop, Joe emerges to finally meet Abby. She says she won’t say anything to the authorities if he makes his escape, but he tells her it’s time he stopped running.
As Joe calls his son to tell him the truth about what he'd done, Abby inspects the train, before receiving a call from Saj who says they’ve finally zeroed in on the location of The Driver, but it’s not in Tehran, or Johannesburg, but Victoria!
Who is The Driver?
It seems Pev (David Threlfall) was the mastermind of the whole conspiracy! He claims he did it as a warning as to what would happen if they sold off UK Rail. He says his plan was to crash an empty train into an empty station, to trigger change, before terrorists came up with a similar plot that was far more damaging.
He explains that when his plan went wrong and people got stuck on the train he gave Abby back the Real Time Train Viewer at Gretna in a bid to get them off. As far as he’s concerned the death of Daniel Geoghan and Fraser Warren, weren’t really his fault. “There’s an error in your code!” she says cheesily. “I never doubted you,” he replies as he’s bundled off by the police.
