Stephen Graham & Sean Bean To Star In BBC Prison Drama ‘Time’

Peter White
·3 min read

The Irishman star Stephen Graham and Game of Thrones star Sean Bean are reuniting on a prison drama for the BBC from Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern.

The pair are starring in three-part drama Time for BBC One. It comes ten years after they starred together in McGovern’s Accused.

Time, which is produced by BBC Studios and will start filming in Liverpool later this year, is a high-stakes portrayal of life in the modern British penal system, seen through the eyes of two very different men.

Bean plays Mark Hebden, a teacher, husband and father, who killed an innocent man in an accident. Consumed by guilt, he accepts and even welcomes his four-year sentence. Separated from his family, he has no idea what to expect in this unforgiving new environment and needs to learn quickly how to survive.

Graham plays Eric Reid, a prison officer. Caring and honest, Eric tries his very best to protect those in his charge, something which is a daily challenge in this understaffed and high-tension world. When one of the most dangerous inmates identifies his weakness, Eric faces an impossible choice between his principles and his love for his family.

Both Eric and Mark, officer and inmate, are seemingly trapped by their pasts and unsure of their futures. Each has to not only survive, but to find the strength and the way to move forward.

Time was commissioned by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama and Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer. It will be directed by Lewis Arnold (Humans) and executive produced by Tom Sherry and Michael Parke for BBC Studios and Lucy Richer for the BBC. It will be produced by Simon Maloney. It is being distributed internationally by BBC Studios.

McGovern said, “The BBC have given me a brilliant young director and two of the greatest actors on the planet. I am overjoyed.”

Bean said, “Getting to be involved in a Jimmy McGovern drama again is a real privilege and it will be great to be reunited with Stephen. Mark Hebden is another of Jimmy’s complex and superbly-written characters and I am looking forward to bringing him to life on screen.”

Graham added, “It is an absolute honour to be working with Jimmy again, I’m feeling blessed. I’m excited to be working with Lewis as I have heard so many incredible things about him as a director, I can’t wait to get stuck in. Of course, I am made up to be back on set with Sean.”

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