A train station employee discovers that a number of commuters are taking the train to a town that shouldn’t exist. When he investigates for himself, he discovers an alternate reality far more appealing than his own life, but with a price.

Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) adapts Philip K. Dick’s 16-page short story which first appeared in Amazing Stories in 1953. In doing so he shifts the focus away from the story’s protagonist, Paine, who turns up halfway through the story, and lets railway employee Ed carry the whole tale (a worried-looking Timothy Spall). In true Dickian style we now get a mysterious woman setting the train of events (ho ho) in motion in Tuppence (Sense8, Jupiter Rising) Middleton, who disappears when her reality is questioned.

It’s a smart move focusing the narrative on one character, making it more a mystery. We’re picking up the clues and learning about the mysterious destination of Macon Heights at the same pace as Ed. There’s a beautifully surreal moment as the train slows down in the middle of nowhere and the inhabitants of the town throw themselves lemming-like onto the sidings. Another clever plot thread is Ed’s unhappy relationship with his wife Mary (Rebecca Manley) and his disturbed son Sam (Anthony Boyle), thus making Ed’s escape from his current predicament (another common PKD theme) much more appealing.

But as with all utopias, will this perfect world soon become tiring, and just what exactly is going on? And because it doesn’t strictly exist, just how stable is it, and is the imaginary grass actually greener? And be careful what you Dream for… The denouement isn’t unexpected, but as with the best train rides, it’s the journey that counts, not the destination, and there’s some tough questions we need to confront courtesy of Thorne’s autobiographical script.

Spall is excellent as the unlikely lead, an ordinary man thrown into a mystery and forced to consider alternate possibilities and making a decision with far-reaching consequences. And because the story is set in modern-day, there’s no need to blow the budget on sci-fi train terminals or other futuristic trappings. Director Tom Harper (The Woman in Black 2) makes good use of the location setting in Dorset’s experimental new town Poundbury for Macon Heights, one of those too-perfect new-build towns, part Stepford and part Wisteria Lane – clinical and perfect on the surface.

Verdict: Engaging and addictive, the narrative pulls you in from the outset. And even when you’ve cracked the mystery, there’s far bigger human questions to ponder. 9/10

Nick Joy

 

You can read what the cast and crew said about this episode in our review of their BAFTA premiere