David Tennant has said that starring in Time series three made him consider the reality of the prison system. The actor plays Bailey, a jaded officer at a Young Offenders Institution (YOI) whose personal life collapses when his wife leaves him, while violence erupts at work.
The third series of Jimmy McGovern's drama is set in a fictional YOI, HMP Alderwick. Alongside Tennant, Siobhan Finneran returns as prison chaplain Marie-Louise, the common factor in all three series alongside Jimmy. The cast includes young actors playing inmates, many of whom are on their first job.
Set and cast experiences
Filming took place at a disused school in Downpatrick, doubling as prison locations, as well as Crumlin Road Gaol and HMP Hydebank Wood, an active young offenders centre in south Belfast. The younger cast explored Belfast under the guidance of Louis McCartney, a Tony nominee for Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
Finneran said of the young inmates: "It's a lovely job but those boys are heartbreaking. Marie-Louise sees them as children, because that's effectively what they are. She sees beyond their anger and aggression to support them, I love that about her."
McCartney plays James Hennessy, inside for a seemingly unforgivable crime. Newcomers include Chukwubuikem Molokwu as Christopher, a stammerer reconnecting with his estranged mother; Victor Zhao as Jietang, imprisoned after an altercation at his dad's restaurant; and Ollie McNulty as Peter, party to a fatal stabbing.
Exploring moral dilemmas
McNulty said of his character: "He's been abandoned by his parents and raised by his auntie, but Peter ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. He wants to tell the truth about what happened because he can see a future with his girlfriend and their son, but he's trapped by loyalty to his family."
Zhao, a Chinese Scouser whose dad owns a restaurant, said: "As a Chinese Scouser whose dad owns a restaurant, I was born to play him. I've been in the street life, I went to prison when I was 18 for a motorbike offence. A YOI is like a zoo, everyone's trying to prove themselves, so treat people the way you want to be treated."
Jimmy McGovern's research process involved YOI visits, where he was struck by the potential for violence, reasons behind it and how to steer prisoners towards something more constructive. He said: "These are young people, full of energy, who can't get out of their cells. But all of them have got things to offer. Train them, teach them."
Reflections on the system
Tennant said of his character: "The job he was once more enthusiastic about has become very compromised and nowadays there's just not enough staff, not enough opportunity. I was very impressed by the prison officers I spoke to. They try to do the job correctly and affect change to make life easier and prison a better place to be."
He added: "Time has made me consider what reality means to anybody within that system, on either side of the locked door. We're all trying our best and we all make mistakes."
Time series three starts on Sunday, on BBC iPlayer and at 9pm on BBC One.
