Season Three of prison drama TIME (BBC1, Sunday, 9pm and iPlayer) returns with another fantastic – remember previous seasons featured the likes of Stephen Graham, Jody Whittaker, Sean Bean and Bella Ramsey – cast including David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran.
Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise (Siobhan Finneran) comes to the young offender institution having lost her faith. When tragedy strikes in the prison, Marie-Louise clashes with veteran officer Bailey (David Tennant), a man in the midst of his own crisis. Bailey knows more about the circumstances that led to this major incident – but will he come clean before the guilt gets too much?
Meanwhile, two teenage young offenders, Peter (Ollie McNulty) and James (Louis McCartney), struggle through the terrifying first weeks and months of their incarceration. Can James ever face his broken parents after an unforgivable act of violence and will Peter tell the truth about the death of an innocent man, or does family loyalty mean more? An unlikely friendship between them looks to shift the trajectory of their futures, but in an increasingly unstable environment, is change ever possible?
It is again written by the brilliant Jimmy McGovern – the man behind such hits as “The Street”, “The Lakes”, “Accused” and “Cracker”- hence the super witty intro – lol!
David said: “Each series of Time has been very much its own thing – apart from Siobhan’s character, there isn’t really a link between the series other than it’s about life in prison – a male prison, a female prison, and now a young offender institution. They’re both similar and very different. The prison system is a necessary part of the justice system, but it’s often regarded as imperfect, and yet those working within it often have the best intentions. Clearly when you’re dealing with young men, boys, who are being excluded from society, being locked away, it’s particularly difficult to consider. They’ve done some very serious things and they’re paying the price for that, but I think it’s always important that, as a society, we look at what we’re doing – whether we’re doing the right thing and what it does to the boys we lock away.”
He added: “There’s something about it being boys who are not yet men, who are all potential, and that potential being incarcerated. There’s something very galling about that. It’s quite scary because there’s a lot of energy in that moment in a young man’s life, in a boy’s life. It’s all that potential and it’s bottled and contained, which doesn’t feel right somehow. There’s a real sense of danger in that.”
Siobhan, who has featured in all three seasons of “Time”, said: “Well, I was blown away when I was asked to come and do the second one, so you can imagine how it was when they asked me to do the third one! I’ve been a fan of his most of my life. I think his writing feels really raw, but it’s completely believable. It’s always packed full of heart, isn’t it? It’s got a big beating heart going through it so that draws you in. He writes his characters so beautifully.
“I have to say, as an actor, if you get sent a Jimmy McGovern script, you’ve won the lottery! You read the first couple of pages and you’re like, I’m already in. Marie-Louise still has the same responsibilities in terms of her role in the prison system, but what was only hinted at in series two – that she’s got her own personal problems and issues, on top of trying to carry out her job – we now see in series three. I just feel very lucky to have been in all of them and delighted that Jimmy and the other writers have wanted to develop her character throughout.”
She added: “For the first series, the production team put me in touch with a lady who worked as a chaplain in a prison. I found her incredible to talk to, she talked about the highs and lows of it, about working with people from different religions, all of that. But the one thing I took hold of and kept hold of is she said: “you will never not be needed in that job”. That’s something that has stayed with me throughout filming all three series, that this is somebody in that position who is needed every day at work.
“As much as you’re having to deal with really difficult situations, to know that you’re going in to serve a purpose is a very good reason to get up out of bed every morning, isn’t it? It’s funny because since I’ve been doing this series, I’ve ended up in conversations, not in a research way, with different people who have worked inside the prison system.
“I remember speaking to one lady who said that somebody could come in struggling with addiction, go through a programme in prison and get themselves back on track, but as soon as they come out of prison, if they’ve got to go back to the same area, the same house, the same place that they’ve grown up in where perhaps that addiction has started, it’s very difficult for them to stay on track.”
Well, that’s it for now – catch you next week for some more TV chatter – have fun and stay safe!
Author: Steve
Editor of Hartlepool Life and author of TV Life