The Sleeper is a single British television crime drama film, written by Gwyneth Hughes and directed by Stuart Orme, that first broadcast on BBC1 on 26 December 2000.

[4] Neither part of the film attracted more than 6.4 million viewers, placing it outside of the Top 30 most watched programmes that week.

[6] The Sleeper focuses on the Moon family, headed by Violet (Eileen Atkins), who descend into conflict when Fergus (Ciarán Hinds) and Claire (Annabelle Apsion), Violet's son and daughter-in-law, decide to sell the family farm from beneath her.

In Part One, as the family gather in the farmhouse to spend one last family Christmas together, a figure from Violet's past, determined to exact revenge, makes her way up to the farm amidst a rain and hail storm which cuts off power in the area, leaving the farm in pitch darkness.

[1] In Part Two, suspicious are raised amongst the family when Cath goes missing, forcing Lillian and George to mount a search party.