BritBox To Debut 'Passenger' at NYCC 2024

BritBox may continue to state it's business as usual since the BBC took over the streaming service in February 2024. However, its beefed-up lineup, especially on Thursday nights, belies that claim. The BBC has not made any wholesale changes to the niche service, at least not yet; after all, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (With 13 million subscribers and growing, BritBox is doing just fine.) Instead, it's slowly turning the dial higher by bringing over high-profile series on a super fast turnaround so that BritBox's claim of being the destination for Anglophiles only becomes more robust by the day.

One way to ensure these series stay high-profile during their trip across the pond is to imbue BritBox with the marketing power to advertise these series, hoping that one or two will finally break out despite the still-cluttered landscape of peak TV making it hard to find oxygen for smaller shows. To that end, BritBox is bringing the Halloween-timed thriller mystery series Passenger over in time for both Spooky Season and convention season, debuting the series on the same weekend as New York Comic-Con 2024.

The first two episodes of the six-episode first season will arrive on Thursday, October 17, which happens to be the same day NYCC kicks off at the Javits Center. The series won't debut on streaming until 9 p.m. ET; however, those attending the NYCC panel will get a screening of the first episode hours before anyone else, followed by a panel with the show's cast and creator.

Here's the show's synopsis:

Passenger explores a close-knit community unwilling to face its fears of change, outsiders, and the unknown. Set in the fictional small Northern town of Chadder Vale, Former Met Police Detective Riya Ajunwa investigates a series of strange and inexplicable crimes that have the townsfolk spinning on an axis. Riya arrived in decaying Chadder Vale five years ago and has since been searching for that ‘one big crime’, the challenge that will make her feel alive again. Then one night, local girl Katie Wells mysteriously disappears. The town barely has time to register her absence before she reappears the next day, apparently safe and sound. The townsfolk ask few questions and everyday life resumes. 

But for Riya, a relative outsider to the Chadder Vale way of life, none of this sits right. As a series of strange happenings and increasingly shocking crimes unfold within the town, the residents resort to short-sighted theories and blame outside influences such as the fracking site and its manager, Jim Bracknell. As things become stranger, the people push back on Riya’s absurd notion that something is wrong with this town. But what are they so afraid of?

Wunmi Mosaku (Loki) leads the cast as Detective Riya Ajunwa with Barry Sloane (Litvinenko), Rowan Robinson (A Haunting in Venice), David Threlfall (Dodger), Arian Nik (Van der Valk), and Ella Bruccoleri (Call The Midwife) co-starring. The cast also includes Jo Hartley (After Life), Sean Gilder (The Gold), Daniel Ryan (The Bay), Natalie Gavin (Gentleman Jack), Nico Mirallegro (We Hunt Together), Hubert Hanowicz (This Is Going To Hurt), Jack James Ryan (Vera), Shervin Alenabi (Gangs of London), Debbie Rush (Brassic), and Matilda Freeman (Alma’s Not Normal).

Andrew Buchan penned all six episodes, with directors Nicole Charles and Lee Haven Jones splitting helming duties. Buchan is also listed as executive producing alongside Lucy Dyke and Simon Maloney for Northern Sister, Jane Featherstone for SISTER, Reemah Sakaan and Stephen Nye for BritBox International, and commissioned for ITVX and ITV1 by ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill. 

Passenger debuts on BritBox on Thursday, October 17, at 9 p.m. ET with two episodes. The series continues with two episodes a week every Thursday through October 31, 2024.