Written by Andrew Buchan (Broadchurch), the six-part series is set in the small northern village of Chadder Vale and follows a tight-knight community that is turned upside down when a series of strange and unnatural crimes begin to occur. 

Former Met Police Detective Riya Ajunwa has been working in the village for five years and is desperate for that one big case that will challenge her and make her feel alive again.

One night, local girl Katie Wells is mysteriously abducted, with her car found abandoned and traces of blood on the seats. With the worst feared, the village barely has time to agonize over her disappearance before she reappears the next day, completely unharmed. 

Glad to see a potential crisis averted, the villagers ask few questions and life soon returns to normal. However, Ajunwa is not prepared to let things go so easily and believes something is not quite right.

Strange events and increasingly horrific crimes start to plague the village, but the villagers remain blinkered to the truth, turning to short-sighted theories and blaming outside influences. 

Ajunwa is determined to convince the villagers that something is wrong and she soon finds herself drawn into a universe unlike anything she has ever seen. 

Andrew Buchan commented: “I feel very lucky and very flattered they’ve gone with these scripts and I’m going to work my backside off to make them the best they can be. I’ve always loved shows where the known collides with the unknown … where you see communities faced with something horrifying and inexplicable, where, as a viewer, you’ve nothing in your kit-bag to explain it. 

“When I started writing the scripts, I wanted to create something epic and unknown but also bed it somewhere close to home. Having grown up in Lancashire it felt like the perfect place for it. We’ll definitely see the residents of Chadder Vale pushed to their limits.”

Passenger will be filmed in Lancashire later this year, with casting to be revealed closer to filming.