Time

[Jellybean]

I’m thoroughly enjoying watching a new BBC One three part prison drama series called Time and recommend it to my fellow members. A synopsis from Wikipedia, a review by Lucy Mangan of The Guardian, a RadioTimes review by Flora Carr and a BBC trailer via YouTube are below:

Time is a 2021 three-part TV drama written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. The series was directed by Lewis Arnold. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 June 2021.[1]

Plot
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. Time is a 2021 three-part TV drama written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. The series was directed by Lewis Arnold. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 6 June 2021.[1]

Source: Wikipedia

Time review – Sean Bean and Stephen Graham astound in enraging prison drama

Its two stars give exceptional performances as inmate and officer respectively, in a series about the inhumanity of the penal system which lays bare Jimmy McGovern’s genius

Lucy Mangan
@LucyMangan
Sun 6 Jun 2021 22.00 BST Last modified on Mon 7 Jun 2021 09.48 BST

There is a moment near the start of Jimmy McGovern’s latest drama, Time (BBC One), that perfectly encapsulates his genius. Mark Cobden (Sean Bean) is arriving for processing at the prison in which he will serve his four-year sentence. Among the questions barked at him – name, age, is he on any medication – is one about his religion. Nervous and disoriented, he mumbles something about not really believing in God. “I’ll put you down as Anglican then,” comes the brisk reply (and standard joke, though not here played as one). “No, no,” Mark responds, kicked into focus. “More … more lapsed Catholic.”

It’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things – Time is a drama about the supposed strengths and many failures of the penal system and Mark’s religion affects his experiences inside not one iota. But it is the perfect demonstration and measure of McGovern’s two greatest strengths – his psychological acuity and his ability to evoke an entire interior world with one brief exchange. He knows a cradle Catholic, even in the most dire straits, would be recalled to himself under the threat of being demoted to Anglican. And he tells us something about the core of the man who is about to be tested as never before, as he enters a world of rules, regulations, petty bullying and sudden violence. It is a place of shifting alliances – a wing full of men who may be mad or bad but are almost always, directly or indirectly, dangerous to know . . .

For the full review see: The Guardian

Time review: BBC One prison drama is brutal, must-watch television

The bleak three-part series is a must-see, both as a lesson on the British prison system, and a masterclass in acting.

By Flora Carr
Published: Sunday, 6th June 2021 at 12:00 pm

At a recent press event, actor Stephen Graham described his hard-hitting new series, BBC One prison drama Time, as “difficult to watch”. He went on to theorise that the reason the three-parter is such difficult viewing is because it makes the audience think: about the British penal system; about the justice system; and about how many inmates should be in mental health units, not prisons . . .

For the full article see: RadioTimes.com