The BBC drama Time has returned for a third series, set entirely within a Young Offenders Institute and starring David Tennant as a deeply unhappy corrections officer. The three hour-long episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
Tennant leads a tense and claustrophobic series
Tennant portrays Bobby Bailey, a drink-sodden corrections officer whose marriage is crumbling as his wife leaves him for another man. His days inside the prison are complicated by keep-apart orders, which stop the young inmates from having any contact with one another.
As Tennant 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."
A bleak look at life inside a young offenders' institute
The series carries an oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere, with countless close-up shots of tense and volatile young offenders who are frequently kept "banged up" - confined to their cells - for entire days at a time due to chronic staff shortages. While some of the offenders are, as Tennant's character describes them, "violent uncontrollable thugs", many others are equally victims themselves - victims of external peer pressure, victims of a failing system that does virtually nothing to rehabilitate them, and victims of severe unprovoked violence from fellow inmates.
When one of these brutal acts of violence happens right under Tennant's watch, he is forced to determine where his true allegiances rest. The entire three hours are an intense, heart-racing ordeal with two genuinely shocking moments of almost jump-scare level violence that catch you completely off guard.
Supporting cast shines alongside Tennant
Although Tennant delivers a BAFTA-worthy performance, the supporting cast match him brilliantly. Some fresh faces, including Ollie McNulty, who portrays vulnerable young offender Peter Palmerston, are a revelation. Illiterate and caught between family loyalty and honesty, Peter endures enormous pressure from every direction throughout the series.
Another newcomer, Chukwubuikem Molokwu, plays Christopher, a gentle and stuttering young offender whose world is shattered when his biological mother unexpectedly reappears. His storyline is the most heartbreaking, and Chukwubuikem is a remarkable talent who commands every scene he features in.
Outstanding reviews and where to watch
The season has garnered outstanding reviews, with one viewer commenting 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 series of Time can be watched on BBC iPlayer.
