The Horror of 'Time' is Driven Home in the Season 2 Trailer

Renewing a show initially planned as a limited, closed-ended series can be risky, but for Jimmy McGovern’s Time, it took what was a one-hit wonder and turned it into a tour-de-force series. Season 1, released in 2021, starred Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) as the newly imprisoned Mark Cobden sent away for killing a pedestrian while driving drunk, and Stephen Graham (This Is England) as Prison Officer Eric McNally. A grim look at the reality of life in prison, Time examines how those within can easily fall prey to criminal activity and the strength of character to find one’s way back. The series ended with Bean’s Mark released, while Graham’s Eric wound up on the prisoner side of the line. With the show’s renewal for Season 2, McGovern has now set out to create an anthology examining different facets of the system, with Season 2 set in a women’s facility.

The new season stars Tamara Lawrance (The Long Song) as Abi Cochrane, Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) as Orla O’Riordan, and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Kelsey Morgan. Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey) provides continuity as the crossover character from Season 1, prison chaplain Marie-Louise O’Dell. Abi, Orla, and Kelsey arrive in prison on the same day; three women from three different worlds, who wind up as each other’s support system.

The BBC released the first trailer ahead of the show’s debut in the U.K., as well as the show’s opening minutes, revealing why each is arriving that day and where they are coming from.

Here’s the Season 2 synopsis:

Told through the lens of three very different inmates, Time is a moving and high-stakes portrayal of life inside a women’s prison. Arriving at Carlingford Prison on the same day, Kelsey, Orla, and Abi are thrown together to face an unfamiliar world. But even with the ever-present threat of violence within its walls, they discover that an unexpected sense of community, and a shared understanding, still might be possible.

Whittaker, Lawrance, Ramsey, and Finneran will be joined by BAFTA-winning comedian Sophie Willan (Alma's Not Normal) in one of her first major dramatic roles as inmate Maeve Riley. Other co-stars include Julie Graham (Shetland), Alicia Forde (Waterloo Road), Lisa Millett (Robin Hood), Faye McKeever (The Responder), Kayla Meikle (The Capture), James Corrigan (This Is Going to Hurt), Nicholas Nunn (SAS Rogue Heroes) and Maimuna Memon (Sherwood).

Jimmy McGovern (The Street), who penned all episodes of Season 1, teams up with co-writer Helen Black (Life and Death in the Warehouse) for Season 2, with director Andrea Harkin (The Confessions of Frannie Langton) helming all episodes. McGovern executive produces, along with Priscilla Parish, Michael Parke, and Andrew Morrissey, for BBC Studios and Lucy Richer for the BBC.

Time Season 2 is currently airing on BBC One and is expected to debut on BritBox in early 2024.