Time (2021 TV series)

Time
Official poster for Series 1 (2021)
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Jimmy McGovern
Written by	Jimmy McGovern Helen Black
Directed by	Lewis Arnold Andrea Harkin
Starring	Sean Bean Stephen Graham Jodie Whittaker Tamara Lawrance Bella Ramsey Siobhan Finneran
Music by	Sarah Warne
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Lewis Arnold Sean Bean Stephen Graham Jimmy McGovern Michael Parke Lucy Richer Tom Sherry
Producers	Simon Maloney Mark Hedges
Cinematography	Mark Wolf
Editor	Sacha Szwarc
Running time	56–67 minutes
Production companies	BBC Studios Drama Productions BritBox[1]
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	6 June 2021 (2021-06-06) – present

Time is a British anthology drama television series^[2] created and co-written by Jimmy McGovern, with Helen Black. Each series presents a new scenario following the lives of inmates and staff in His Majesty's Prison Service. Its first series, starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 June 2021 and concluded on 20 June 2021.^[3] Its second series, starring Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance and Bella Ramsey, was broadcast, also on BBC One, on 29 October 2023 and concluded on 12 November 2023.^[4][5]

The first series received largely positive reviews, with many praising the performances of the two leads.^[6][7] At the 2022 BAFTA TV Awards, the first series won Best Mini-Series and Bean won Best Actor, whilst Graham was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The second series received similarly positive reviews.^[8]

Mark Cobden is newly imprisoned, consumed by guilt for his crime, and way out of his depth in the volatile world of prison life. He meets Eric McNally, an excellent prison officer doing his best to protect those in his charge. However, when one of the most dangerous inmates identifies his weakness, Eric faces an impossible choice between his principles and his family.^[7][9][10]

Orla, a single mother serving her first sentence, Abi, who is incarcerated for life, and Kelsey, a pregnant heroin addict and repeat offender, begin their sentences at a women's prison.^[11]

• Sean Bean as Mark Cobden
• Stephen Graham as Eric McNally

• Jodie Whittaker as Orla O'Riordan
• Tamara Lawrance as Abi Cochrane
• Bella Ramsey as Kelsey Morgan
• Siobhan Finneran as Marie-Louise O'Dell

Most of the filming of the first series took place in the Liverpool City Region, with the prison wings and cells filmed at HM Prison Shrewsbury, a former prison which was decommissioned in 2013. The cameras moved to Liverpool to create the rest of the prison using courtrooms, police stations and educational buildings, as well as exterior locations such as the Silver Jubilee Bridge in Widnes and Southport Pier.^[12]

Writing in The Guardian, Lucy Mangan wrote: "The performances of Bean and Graham are, even though we have come to expect brilliance from them both, astonishing. So, too, are those from everyone in smaller roles, none of which is underwritten or sketchy, and who thicken the drama into something more profoundly moving and enraging at every turn".^[6] Billie Schwab Dunn, writing for Metro, praised the show, which was "elevated by the central performances – particularly Bean, who gently grounds us and provides a beam of light in all that darkness".^[7][8]

• Time at IMDb