They say that time waits for no man, or, in the case of the second series of this BBC One drama, no woman. Jimmy McGovern’s bleak saga is back, this time turning the lens to the hard knocks of a women’s prison where, rather than slipping away from them, time drags on interminably. Against this painfully glacial clock, Time tells interweaving stories of life behind bars.
This new series follows three women: Jodie Whittaker’s Orla, Bella Ramsey’s Kelsey and Tamara Lawrance’s Abi. Orla is a small-time criminal, banged up for “fiddling the leccy” (ie tampering with her electricity meter readings), who is preoccupied by fears of losing custody of her kids. Kelsey, a young heroin addict, discovers on arrival that she’s pregnant. And Abi is a lifer, in for a crime that still haunts her. Time means different things to each of these women. For Orla, it is all precious minutes away from her young family – an estrangement that threatens any chance of reunion – while for Kelsey there are two countdowns running simultaneously. But for Abi, it means little. “I am doing life,” she warns a new inmate who is threatening to expose her identity. “A few more years means nothing to me.”
