The third season of BBC drama Time has been described as a gripping, claustrophobic watch, with David Tennant starring as a corrections officer in a Young Offenders Institute. The season consists of three hour-long episodes, all set inside the institution.
Tense and stressful viewing
Tennant plays Bobby Bailey, a corrections officer whose wife is leaving him for another man. His long days at the prison are made harder by keep-apart orders that prevent the young inmates from associating with each other.
As Tennant's character tells the prison chaplain Marie-Louise O'Dell, played by Siobhan Finneran: "If the wrong lads gain access to each other, they'll attack each other. Not might attack or could attack, they will attack."
Claustrophobic atmosphere
The season is claustrophobic, with close-up shots of stressed and furious young offenders who are often kept "banged up" - locked inside their cells - all day due to lack of staff. Some offenders are described by Tennant's character as "violent uncontrollable thugs", while others are portrayed as victims of peer pressure, a broken system that does little to rehabilitate them, and extreme unprovoked violence from one another.
When one of these extreme acts of violence occurs under Tennant's nose, he is forced to decide where his true loyalties lie. The three hours are a tense, blood-pumping nightmare with two shuddering moments of almost jump-scare-worthy violence.
Strong performances
While Tennant gives a BAFTA-worthy performance, the rest of the cast match him. Newcomer Ollie McNulty plays Peter Palmerston, a vulnerable young offender who is illiterate and torn between family loyalties and truth. Another newcomer, Chukwubuikem Molokwu, plays Christopher, a sweet and stammering young offender whose life is turned upside down when his birth mother shows up unexpectedly.
His story is described as the most tragic, with Molokwu stealing every scene he appears in.
Critical reception
The season has received rave reviews. One person wrote on Rotten Tomatoes: "The result is a front row seat into the hellish conditions of young offenders' institutions today. Bleak days bleed into nights of despair, the tension never relinquishes, fear, paranoia, and pain pervade the whole piece." Another said: "While it's only three parts, it packs a punch. Look out for this at the BAFTAS."
All seasons of Time are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
