The BBC prison drama Time has returned for a third series, and online TV critic Luke Eccleston, known as Eccy Reviews, has called it "probably the best yet" after it debuted on October 11.
In a TikTok video, Eccleston said: "The show that I am talking about is called Time. I've just binge-watched all three episodes and it's my favourite season by far." He urged viewers to add the show to their watch-list, describing it as "gripping" and saying audiences will be "hooked from start to finish".
Cast and plot details
Written by Jimmy McGovern and Samuel Bailey, the third instalment stars David Tennant as Bobby Bailey and Siobhan Finneran as Marie-Louise O'Dell. Previous series featured Sean Bean, Stephen Graham, Bella Ramsey and Jodie Whittaker.
The BBC's show description reads: "Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise (Siobhan Finneran) comes to the young offender institution having lost her faith. When tragedy strikes in the prison, Marie-Louise clashes with veteran officer Bailey (David Tennant), a man in the midst of his own crisis. Bailey knows more about the circumstances that led to this major incident - but will he come clean before the guilt gets too much?"
It continues: "Meanwhile, two teenage young offenders, Peter (Ollie McNulty) and James (Louis McCartney), struggle through the terrifying first weeks and months of their incarceration. Can James ever face his broken parents after an unforgivable act of violence and will Peter tell the truth about the death of an innocent man, or does family loyalty mean more? An unlikely friendship between them looks to shift the trajectory of their futures, but in an increasingly unstable environment, is change ever possible?"
Critic and viewer reactions
Eccleston also shared his take on the synopsis: "It follows a young offenders' prison. David Tennant plays a guard at the prison and after an incident where a cellmate is killed, everything changes forever." He added that people are forced to keep secrets and end up in "predicaments they shouldn't be in".
He closed: "Honestly, it is so incredible. I was gripped from the start and all the performances are incredible as the tension builds through each and every single episode. I guarantee you will absolutely love this show."
Viewers also took to the comments to share their verdicts. One said: "Just watched it and flipping heck it's so good, I teared up in so many places." Another praised: "This is brilliant, just finished it, couldn't move from the TV."
Writer's inspiration and rating
McGovern said upon the release of series three: "We'd done pretty good stories about a male prison and pretty good stories about a female prison, but we went into our first young offender institution and honestly, we didn't have a single story idea at all. In the course of talking to people, somebody told a story about a young prisoner whose mother comes to visit him. The backstory was that it was the first time he'd ever had a visit from his mother, he wasn't born in this country. She comes and she cannot speak English and he cannot speak her language. That story was just told to us in passing, and from that story, everything developed. That story established every other story, it was such a wonderful moment to find that."
On IMDb, Time holds a rating of 8.2 out of 10 following 33,000 reviews.
