Passenger star David Threfall says viewers are in for a treat if they tune in to watch the ITV thriller, describing it as Britain’s answer to the hit Netflix show Stranger Things!
Created by Broadchurch star Andrew Buchan, the six-part series is set in the fictional Lancashire village of Chadder Vale and begins when local girl, Katie Wells (Rowan Robinson) goes missing in the woods.
She turns up the next day as if nothing has happened, yet the incident proves the start of a strange and sinister chain of events that spread fear and anxiety through the village's community.
It's up to local detective, Riya Anjuwa (Wunmi Mosaku) to find out what's going on, but with a dangerous criminal being released from prison, a monster on the loose in the woods and something fishy going on at the bread factory, she has her hands full.
David, who’s previously appeared in hit TV shows such as Shameless, plays Jim Bracknell, the manager of Chadder Vale’s fracking site, which is proving very unpopular with the local residents.
However, his storyline is just one of a myriad of plots that slowly converge in a mysterious horror that will keep you on the edge of your sofa…
"When I first read it I knew it was a good script, but it was completely indecipherable to me," he says. "But I thought ‘they’ve commissioned this so there must be something there that I can’t see!’ and as I continued to read, it felt almost like a confectionary shop window that just ineluctably pulls you in."
As David continued to read he began to see why the script was causing such a buzz with bosses at ITV and why such a stellar cast of British talent had signed up to be in it.
BAFTA-winner Wunmi Mosaku (Damilola, Our Loved Boy) leads a cast that boasts Daniel Ryan (The Bay), Jo Hartley (This Is England), Debbie Rush (Coronation Street) and Barry Sloane (Six) are just some of the stars playing Chadder Vale’s residents.
There’s no cameo role for the show’s creator, Andrew Buchan, but David says his writing makes him the real stand-out performer of the series.
“Passenger stands out like Stranger Things,” he explains. “It’s a wonderful achievement, which is full of illusion and vision, and I can only bow to you and think what kind of medication you were on when you wrote it!”
Passenger is available to stream on ITVX from Sunday 24 March 2024
