--- title: "Time" year: 2021 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/time-2021" fi1m_score: 82 critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-09-17T15:39:38.384938+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T15:40:01.808343+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Time (2021) Created by Jimmy McGovern · 45m · Drama **Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 77 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* Even the prison officer looks as though he needs someone to let him out > Sean Bean and Stephen Graham make Jimmy McGovern’s prison drama painfully convincing. We recommend it for their performances and its attention to everyday indignity, with a warning that the unbroken grimness can become wearing. ## Synopsis In a British prison, inmate Mark Cobden (Sean Bean) tries to endure the daily indignities of incarceration. Prison officer Eric McNally (Stephen Graham) has responsibility for prisoners, but his compromised position leaves him struggling with the demands of the job. Their story also includes Marie-Louise O’Dell (Siobhan Finneran). The opening follows the prisoner’s vulnerability alongside the officer’s pressures, concentrating on the ordinary business of punishment and the decisions it requires of both men. One needs to get through prison life; the other must work within the system that controls it. ## Review [*Time*](https://film.one/film/time) is hard to watch for sound reasons, and we recommend it despite a grimness that occasionally becomes too uniform. Created by Jimmy McGovern, the drama approaches prison through a vulnerable inmate and a compromised officer, asking what punishment does to each of them. The opening series has three episodes, enough space to make the pressure felt without treating incarceration as an endless source of incident. Sean Bean and Stephen Graham are the principal reason it holds our attention. Sean Bean plays Mark Cobden, and his vulnerability is the most persuasive thing in the programme. A drama can ask us to pity a prisoner so insistently that we stop seeing a person; this performance keeps his distress from becoming merely a lesson for the audience. We were upset by the small indignities of his imprisonment, because the effort of enduring them feels so considerable. There is no need for an elaborate speech about what prison does to a person when the central performance makes it this plain. Stephen Graham’s Eric McNally makes the officer’s predicament equally compelling. His performance gives the difficulty of doing the job properly enough force that concern for the man does not feel like an excuse for the institution. We can understand the pressures on an officer without forgetting the power he has over an inmate. Lewis Arnold’s direction pays close attention to the leads, letting their performances carry the tension rather than treating the prison itself as sufficient reason for us to be afraid. The series credits Paul Morris, Mark Wolf and Owen McPolin with cinematography, and Anna Higginson with production design. The prison setting is convincingly dispiriting, and the visual treatment does not make its ugliness feel like an attraction. The ordinary quality of the place matters: the surroundings have to remain credible around performances this exposed. On that measure, the work succeeds, keeping our attention on the people who must endure the conditions. Sacha Szwarc’s editing sustains the tension, but it also leaves little breathing room between the demands made on us. Sarah Warne’s music fits the sober tone; it does not make the experience easier. The accumulated distress risks making the individual dilemmas feel too similar. A quieter emotional passage would help the harsher ones register more distinctly, and Jimmy McGovern’s writing sometimes pushes harder than the performances need it to. As a prison drama, *Time* is most valuable when it makes us consider an officer’s difficulties alongside an inmate’s without pretending their positions are equal. That is a difficult balance, and Jimmy McGovern’s writing usually maintains it. There is care here for people whom a harsher or lazier programme might reduce to their worst decisions. Sean Bean and Stephen Graham make that care worth the discomfort. Give it an evening when nobody is expecting light conversation afterwards. *Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are uniformly positive about Time, with praise centred on Sean Bean and Stephen Graham and the psychological strain they convey on both sides of the prison system. Most critics find the drama compelling because its emotional force comes from the indignities of incarceration and the moral pressures on inmates and officers. The writing draws praise for its realism and anger, while Radio Times also singles out Lewis Arnold’s attentive direction of the central performances. The differences are chiefly in enthusiasm, with no outright dissent among these six reviews. Reservations cluster around the relentless grimness: critics describe an experience that is tense, heavy and sometimes deliberately frustrating. Digital Spy makes the performances its main reason to watch, while The Guardian places greater emphasis on the drama’s force as an indictment of prison-system failures. The consensus treats the discomfort as purposeful, though hardly an invitation to easy viewing. ### Reviews we read (6) - **The Guardian**, Lucy Mangan (85/100, inferred): The series is a powerful, enraging drama about the failures of the prison system, with exceptional performances from Sean Bean and Stephen Graham that highlight the psychological toll and moral dilemmas faced by inmates and officers. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jun/06/time-review-sean-bean-and-stephen-graham-astound-in-enraging-prison-drama) - **Radio Times**, Flora Carr (4/5): The critic calls the series brutal yet must-see television for its unflinching look at the British prison system. They single out the visceral central performances by Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, directed with close attention by Lewis Arnold, as the elements that make it so affecting. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/time-review-bbc/) - **The i Paper**, Rachael Sigee (80/100, inferred): The three-part series is relentlessly grim with every minute indignity of incarceration on display, but features superlative acting from the entire cast and heartbreaking storytelling. It offers a fearless depiction of a prison system that serves no one. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/time-bbc1-review-sean-bean-and-stephen-graham-are-harrowing-in-this-heartbreaking-fearless-prison-drama-1035690) - **The Telegraph**, Anita Singh (75/100, inferred): Jimmy McGovern’s prison drama delivers a tense, anxiety-inducing first episode focused on crime, punishment, and justice, with strong performances from Sean Bean and Stephen Graham as the vulnerable inmate and the compromised officer. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2021/06/06/time-episode-1-reviewcrime-punishment-justice-looks-like/) - **The Times**, Carol Midgley (★★★★☆): The series is unrepentantly grim and heavy-duty stuff, but also compelling television with a premium cast and writing like a punch to the face. The direction in the depressing early scenes is top-notch and Sean Bean gives a strong performance. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/time-review-like-a-punch-to-the-face-but-in-a-good-way-cdps6fpdx) - **Digital Spy**, Laura Jane Turner (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the BBC prison drama worth watching primarily for the standout performances of Stephen Graham and Sean Bean. It is praised for its grounded realism, emotional writing, and commentary on the prison system, though noted as heavy and frustrating by design. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a36569492/time-review-bbc-stephen-graham/) ## Details - **Created by:** Jimmy McGovern - **Creator:** Jimmy McGovern - **Director:** Lewis Arnold, Andrea Harkin - **Writer:** Jimmy McGovern, Helen Black - **Cinematography:** Paul Morris, Mark Wolf, Owen McPolin - **Editor:** Sacha Szwarc - **Music:** Sarah Warne - **Production design:** Anna Higginson - **Costume design:** John Dunn, Jan Simpson - **Producer:** Carmel Maloney, Mark Hedges, Simon Maloney - **Cast:** Sean Bean as Mark Cobden; Stephen Graham as Eric McNally; Bella Ramsey as Kelsey Morgan; Siobhan Finneran as Marie-Louise O'Dell; Jodie Whittaker as Orla O'Riordan; Tamara Lawrance as Abi Cochrane; Michelle Butterly as Nurse Garvey; Alicia Forde as Sarah Duddy - **Runtime:** 45m - **Release (the US):** 6 June 2021 - **Genres:** Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQ7_yIVtbU ## Where to watch in the US - BritBox: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Apple TV: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Apple TV: buy, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BR, CA, CL, CO, DE, DK, EC, FI, GB, MX, NO, PA, PE, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Hill* (1965): A military prison drama about authority, cruelty and the limits of endurance. - *A Prophet* (2009), Fi1m 86: Another vulnerable prisoner, with closer attention to the practical business of surviving. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-prophet.md) - *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: An Iranian drama whose moral dilemmas allow nobody a comfortable position. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md) - *The Virtues* (2019): Stephen Graham brings similar care to a man struggling with painful memories. - *Starred Up* (2013), Fi1m 84: A British prison story with fierce performances and more room for anger. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/starred-up.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/time-2021