Time (Jimmy McGovern prison drama)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

All three episodes of this relentless chuckle-fest are now available on iPlayer.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p09fs2qh/time?seriesId=p09fs2tp

We've all seen prison dramas before, but this one really shook me up. McGovern doesn't hold back, he depicts life in prison as an absolute living hell. Not in a melodramatic Midnight Express way, but in a way that - I assume - accurately captures how frightening and claustrophobic life in prison must be.

The tedium and anxiety, the bullying and violence, that constant sickly pall of institutional dehumanisation; Time is basically a three-hour version of Scum that's somehow smuggled itself into a Sunday night slot on BBC One.

Chokey is a perfect setting for McGovern, as it allows him to dig deep into his recurring themes of guilt and forgiveness. As much as I love the man's work, he can sometimes be a bit didactic. That's not the case here. He gets his various points across while telling an engrossing story populated by sympathetic, three-dimensional characters.

Sean Bean and Stephen Graham are outstanding, but they don't carry the whole thing on their sturdy Gritty Actor shoulders alone. The entire cast is faultless.

It's not an easy watch; it's not supposed to be. But it is worth watching. 

[Rizla]

Pretty strong meat, as one would expect. Agree re the casting, it was flawless. Tempted to binge the lot right away. Shame about the sickly green colour correction, par for the course nowadays I guess.



Absolutely should've thumped that cheeky lil swine from the off, look at him swagger. He'll get his, I'm sure of it.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Shame about the sickly green colour correction, par for the course nowadays I guess.

It is, unfortunately. But I actually forgot all about it within the first ten minutes, as I was so engrossed in Bean's plight.*

_{* I am talking about the actor Sean Bean. Rowan Atkinson's slapstick alter ego isn't in this.}

[WhoMe]

Just thinking cctv would have made the refusal to snitch largely irrelevant for the guy who got

Spoiler alert

boiling sugar water to the face'd

[close]

[Malcy]

Great, been looking forward to this and glad it's all out at once.

[Aaron500]

Really good, I'm hoping it stays that way - there's an easy, obvious plotline for Bean's character (fight back against the bully, earn respect, start using his teacher skills to help others, work with Siobhan Finneran's character with whom there'll be a chaste romance). This being McGovern I doubt that will happen (except maybe the anguished romance).

I'm thinking he'll either carry on getting beaten down and it'll get even bleaker, or he'll turn into a bigger bastard than any of them and start running the wing with Stephen Graham.

[Blinder Data]

this sounds really good. Sean Bean and Stephen Graham also starred in an episode of McGovern's Accused which was excellent - worth seeking out if you're a fan of extremely intense one-hour dramas (and you've ever wondered what Sean Bean looks like in a dress)

[Rizla]

Superb stuff, even if the compact nature meant some of the peripheral characters stories felt a bit squashed in, still each minor character was allowed to live and breathe.

Spoiler alert

I felt that Jackson Jones partaking in the snooker-ball-in-the-sock assault himself slightly robbed him of his detached Grouty-esque menace, but I guess that's the way it would be.

[close]

.

Spoiler alert

Funeral sequence in the last episode was outstanding, incredibly affecting. Getting a wee sniffle just thinking about it.

[close]

[studpuppet]

Bassterd....


Mrs. S had trouble watching this, mostly because she loves the police and thinks only bad people go to prison. /having only watched one episode, I'm guessing he'll get gobbled up by the system one way or another (perhaps a la Criminal Justice/The Night Of).

[ersatz99]

Utterly compelling although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has an anxiety of being imprisoned because it looked pretty authentic and terrifying.

[Mrs Wogans lemon drizzle]

great TV, I absolutely love Sean Bean lately.  Are this and the thing he was in as a priest in some way related?

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

great TV, I absolutely love Sean Bean lately.  Are this and the thing he was in as a priest in some way related?

They were both written by Jimmy McGovern.

[Neomod]

Think I might need to ration these with a Seinfeld chaser due to the grimness.

[Rizla]

Just remembered this beautiful bit of framing -



The bridge, between freedom and captivity, right and wrong. Fuckin nice.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Utterly compelling although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has an anxiety of being imprisoned because it looked pretty authentic and terrifying.

It looks pretty good but it's really the last type of show I'd want to watch for escapism, particularly given events of the past year. Think I'll have to be in a pretty specific mood before I attempt to watch this.

[Butchers Blind]

Does Sean Bean die in this?

[imitationleather]

Just watching episode 1. This is the least funny sitcom I've ever seen.

[Bazooka]

Does Sean Bean die in this?

Shanked by an orc.😿

[shiftwork2]

This has been trailed for a while so thanks for the heads up.  McGovern and Graham elicited a yeeesssss so interested to see if it delivers on its considerable promise.

Accused seems to have disappeared from the consciousness but I still find each episode very memorable.

[Bob-Kate]

Halfway through. It's excellent, but what else could it be with Bean, Graham and McGovern on board.

Been thinking, has Steven Graham been in anything that's not good? (That shonky series of Line of Duty excepted).

[Waking Life]

Snatch?

[dr beat]

Just remembered this beautiful bit of framing -

Cool, looks like the older Widnes-Runcorn bridge! Guess it must be if it was filmed around Merseyside.  Can't be too sure but it looks like the Widnes side as I can't see the railway bridge from that shot.

The bridge, between freedom and captivity, right and wrong.

The difference between Widnes and Runcorn right there.

[Bazooka]

Thanks for the heads up, don't really watch TV so hadn't seen it advertised. Watched the first two last night,very good, my only real criticism is Sue Johnston isn't quite believable as Bean's mum, only 15 years between them in real life, but that's being picky and anti teen mum.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Watched all three, very bleak and hard to watch in places. Felt sorry for both main characters. It does seem ridiculous what happens to Graham's character in the end, he

Spoiler alert

gets four years even though he was under such duress to do what he did. Would the judge or anyone else in the courtroom have done any different if their son was in danger?

[close]

Interesting that the main characters in both this and Oz go to prison for

Spoiler alert

killing someone when driving while drunk

[close]

.

Raises a number of questions about the nature of the UK's prison system. Graham's character's point about

Spoiler alert

how half of those in the prison belonged in a mental hospital instead was a good one

[close]

.

How realistic was the drama? I know nothing about prison so it's hard to say. Be interesting to hear what former/current prisoners, their families and prison staff thought of the drama.

[Jim_MacLaine]

How realistic was the drama? I know nothing about prison so it's hard to say. Be interesting to hear what former/current prisoners, their families and prison staff thought of the drama.

Very accurate in my experience[nb]1 month at HMP Wandsworth 20 years ago[/nb].

[Icehaven]

Watched all three, very bleak and hard to watch in places. Felt sorry for both main characters. It does seem ridiculous what happens to Graham's character in the end, he

Spoiler alert

gets four years even though he was under such duress to do what he did. Would the judge or anyone else in the courtroom have done any different if their son was in danger?

[close]

Interesting that the main characters in both this and Oz go to prison for

Spoiler alert

killing someone when driving while drunk

[close]

.

Raises a number of questions about the nature of the UK's prison system. Graham's character's point about

Spoiler alert

how half of those in the prison belonged in a mental hospital instead was a good one

[close]

.

How realistic was the drama? I know nothing about prison so it's hard to say. Be interesting to hear what former/current prisoners, their families and prison staff thought of the drama.

I've worked in a clink for nearly 7 years but generally I don't watch TV about prison, it's just not the kind of thing I like to watch, but I might give this a go partly as it's so acclaimed and partly to see how realistic it is. I'm sure a lot of staff and residents at work have watched it already though so I'll ask around.

Interesting that the main characters in both this and Oz go to prison for

Spoiler alert

killing someone when driving while drunk

[close]

.

I imagine they pick an accidental crime like that as it's got the 'this could happen to anyone, even YOU' factor. Most people are in prison for something they consciously did, even if they were off their faces at the time, so the largely law abiding viewing public will relate more to someone who made a thoughtless mistake or had a momentary lapse etc. than a drug dealer or thief. One of the first prisoners I worked with was doing 5 years for killing someone by crashing his lorry into them while looking at porn on his phone, and a few times he got back to his wing after work and found pictures (from a newspaper) of the woman he killed stuck to his cell door. Dunno if anything like that happens in Time but he said he'd prefer it if they just beat him up.

[bgmnts]

I think Jimmy McGovern was put on this earth specifically to make me want to slit my wrists in the bathtub.

Genuinely fucking hate it when decent people are bullied, hate hate hate it. Brings out something visceral in me.

[gib]

icehaven it is really good telly and once buzby has confirmed the identity of the bridge you will be thread MVP so please watch it

[gib]

It looks pretty good but it's really the last type of show I'd want to watch for escapism

i found it relaxing despite the similarities to my new job because it makes the job seem not too bad

[Sebastian Cobb]

How realistic was the drama? I know nothing about prison so it's hard to say. Be interesting to hear what former/current prisoners, their families and prison staff thought of the drama.

There's a guy on another forum I go on who did a reasonable amount of years of bird not so long ago and he can't praise it highly enough; he reckons there's it's quite honest and outside

Spoiler alert

the fact the sugar-water with the kettle wouldn't happen as it did because of cctv on the wards

[close]

and that

Spoiler alert

given his age, and the crime and his behaviour he'd have been onto a 'cushy' wing within 6 months

[close]

their main complaint was it wouldn't happen quite so quickly. They praised it highly for not really stepping into cliches. They also said the old middle-aged guy running the firm might be a bit dated these days.

I'd be interested if Icehaven does watch it, from a prison worker's story. From what I've seen she dispels a lot of prison stereotypes quite similarly to said bloke on other forum.

I approached it from a general drama point of view and thought it was excellent. McGovern really doesn't fuck about, and it makes me want to break out the Cracker box-set I bought when I moved into a place in the mid-2000's and had no internet, barely working telly and fuck all to do for a month or so.