‘IT'S EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF'

Sean Bean and Stephen Graham on how their prison thriller aims to shine new light on life behind bars…

- CAREN CLARK

TIME

NEW SUNDAY / BBC1 / 9PM / EP 1 of 3 / DRAMA

Sean Bean and Stephen Graham never shy away from demanding roles, and this week sees them take on two of their most challenging yet as they reunite with award-winning writer Jimmy McGovern for BBC1’s hard-hitting new prison drama, Time.

The acclaimed actors, who previously teamed up in a 2012 episode of Jimmy’s anthology series Accused, and starred in his thought-provoking dramas Broken (Sean) and The Street (Stephen), head the exceptional cast of this three-parter, which explores the realities of living and working in a British jail.

Sean plays reserved teacher Mark Cobden, who is starting a four-year sentence in (fictional) Craigmore Prison for accidentally killing a man. Haunted by what he has done, his ordeal is made worse when he finds himself incarcerated alongside a range of antagonistic and disturbed fellow inmates.

Meanwhile, Stephen is diligent prison officer Eric McNally, who is at the mercy of Craigmore’s most ruthless prisoners when they try to use a family secret against him.

Here, Sean, 62, and Stephen, 47, tell us more…

How would you describe Time?

SEAN It’s a simply told story about lots of different facets of being imprisoned and guilt, suffering and inequality. It tells you what it’s like for just a regular guy to be jailed and the nightmare that is. You’ve got a cauldron of emotions and violence, and it’s every man for himself.