BBC’s Time Series 2 Cast And Creatives On Telling Stories Of Women In Prison “With Integrity And Brutal Honesty”

Still Doing Time

Told through the lens of three very different inmates, Time is a moving and high-stakes portrayal of life inside a women’s prison.

Arriving at Carlingford Prison on the same day, Orla (Jodie Whittaker), Abi (Tamara Lawrance) and Kelsey (Bella Ramsey) are thrown together to face an unfamiliar world. But even with the ever-present threat of violence within its walls, they discover that an unexpected sense of community, and a shared understanding, still might be possible…

Meet The Cast

Jodie Whittaker (Orla)

Where do we meet Orla in at the start of the series?

Orla is a single mother of three and we meet her in a stereotypical domestic scenario that any mother can appreciate where you’re just trying to get your kids ready for school. But for Orla it’s particularly heightened because she’s in a rush to get somewhere that nobody knows she’s going.

The beauty of Helen and Jimmy’s writing is that the audience isn’t completely spoon-fed every scene. So you then have a very hard cut with them realising that she’s gone to court and is then sent down for six months. In law there are very clear lines on what is legal and what is not legal – but then there are very blurred lines of what warrants prison sentences and what warrants fines. In Orla’s situation, the crime doesn’t necessarily merit the sentence. The cost of living crisis has absolutely contributed to Orla’s situation.

The first season of Time was widely praised, what has it been like working with Jimmy and telling this story off the back of the success of the first season?

As an actor, whenever you’re sent any script, it’s incredibly exciting because you are sat in a position where you’re lucky enough to read all that hard work, especially when it follows something that has been so impactful, important, and of such high quality like Time series one. The fact that this is being told, not as a season two, but as another unique standalone piece covering different storylines and characters has been amazing. I think for me growing up, Jimmy’s writing was hugely impactful on my love of television and screen, and hearing things in a voice that I understood. And so, when he came on set, I was pathetic. You know with both Helen and Jimmy that the research has been done and we’re in safe hands. There’s an incredible ensemble of stories and I felt very lucky to be on set.

How will watching Time series two change people’s perspectives on female prisons?

I think what Time series one did, and hopefully what this series is doing, is giving a face to the statistics or the problems. You can say there’s a there’s a wrong or a right, there’s a baddie and a goodie, or there’s a situation where there’s a bad decision and a good decision, but we all live in a grey area. Some of us are in a lucky position – wherever we’re coming from or are going to we are helped in many ways by society or the financial bracket you’re in. All these things are contributing factors to your daily ability to choose certain things. For Orla, the domino effect of her being in prison shatters everything for her.

What’s it like working in an ensemble cast?

The thing that’s been wonderful filming is just being in an environment of so many actors, in such an ensemble. You’re supported all day and given the space to work, to be challenged and to discover really brilliant details because there are other people in the scene. Sometimes when you play characters like Orla that require such an emotional journey it can make you a little bit insular, whereas Time is all about the ripple effect. It’s been brilliant, it feels like the epitome of working on a team – you feel like you’re in a football team or something, and as characters you’re not always playing on the same side so it’s quite complicated and there are a few screams at the referee.

What research did you do to prepare for the role and did you utilise that for your performance?

What has been wonderful is learning from other actors, the wealth of knowledge within us that’s been so openly shared.

Tamara Lawrance (Abi)

Tell us about Time series two

Time is a series that follows predominantly the storylines of three women who have come into prison for very different reasons and who, for most of the show, share a cell and interact with each other. It’s about loss, it’s about redemption, it’s about grief, and family, and friendship, connection and the lack of it, and also transformation – I think every character sort of evolves through their circumstance. So I think resilience is probably the salient theme and I hope that compassion, understanding and a new perspective is what people take away from it the most.

Tell us about your character, Abi

Abi is an inmate, she’s doing a life sentence for a crime that she is trying to keep under wraps. She has served three and a half years in a different prison and she’s in quite an anxious space because the nature of her crime was revealed in the previous prison and the inmates turned against her for that. So she’s trying to keep herself to herself, but also looks out for other inmates as well because she knows what it feels like to be ostracised.

What did you love about the first season and what attracted you to come on board?

I was on the BAFTA jury actually that year and watched for Best Actor – I voted for Sean and it was actually a unanimous vote for Best Actor. Similarly from the last season to this season, what I loved about it was the subversion of stereotype and recognising how sometimes people do things that people might see as reprehensible not because of who they are, but because of the circumstances they’ve been put in. I think there’s an amazing arc from the first to the second season, even though it’s entirely different people and stories.

Societal and class issues often play a part in Jimmy’s work, how is this illustrated in Time series two?

The writing was the main thing that struck me when I first read it. Just how human and real and timely these storylines felt, particularly Orla’s storylines – somebody who can’t afford to pay for gas and electricity, and ends up being imprisoned for what most would see as quite a minor crime compared to some of the other people she’s inside with. I think a lot of people will be able to resonate with struggling to afford things right now.

Also, I felt like characters that would ordinarily be vilified or people that would ordinarily be seen as the lowest of society, for example, Kelsey, or somebody who’s done something like what Abi has done, we get a chance to empathise with them through this show. Especially with the nature of flashbacks for Abi. Hopefully that will give a lens into the pressure she was under which led her to do what she did. It gives honour to people who otherwise are dehumanised by the criminal justice system. It can be unkind to some of the people that go through it. I think that this this show allows the audience to connect with them rather than the system.

What research did you do to prepare for the role and how did you utilise that for your performance?

I did lots of research into stats around women’s prisons, their quality of living, and watched lots of documentaries on women’s prisons and the dynamics there. The stakes are interesting when everything becomes so myopic, particularly for people who are doing long sentences, the importance of your belongings, everything becomes heightened. If all you have to your name is the hair oil you own and the hash browns you eat for breakfast, those things become currency, and so it’s interesting to see that through those documentaries.

How will watching Time series two change people’s perspective on female prisons?

For all the characters, what this show brings is context. People find it very easy to cast judgement on the final result, as it were, but this series shows the relationship with Orla and her kids and how well-meaning she is, it shows how Kelsey is in an abusive relationship and is being groomed into this addiction, and how Abi has a complete lack of support and how loneliness is a massive trigger for a lot of illnesses. I hope people can clue into that detail in the writing and feel that these people are fully fleshed. Even if they don’t obviously condone what they’ve done, I hope people come away with a level of understanding of how people end up where they are.

How do inmates’ experiences differ due to their crime and other prisoners’ perceptions of crime?

I think the level of ostracization Abi faces hardens her. I think from the flashback, you can see that she’s the average woman that came actually from a level of privilege, which most people in prison don’t, which is part of why the other inmates struggle to sympathise with her. Effectively, there’s a fall from grace, and then coming into a landscape which she had no connection to in her history before, she recognised in the previous prison that you have to harden your demeanour. It’s a very eat or be eaten dynamic in prison. She comes across quite tough and there’s a symbiosis there – everything feeds into itself, the more people isolate her, the more she withdraws, and then the less people want to connect with her.

On top of that, there’s a moralistic hierarchy where the inmates feel a level of superiority because of the nature of their crimes compared to hers. Abi is dealing with guilt which they don’t realise at first and that seeming remorselessness is part of why they hate her. But she is riddled with sleeplessness and oral and visual hallucinations and struggles to forgive herself. I think her persona is that she doesn’t care, but I believe that she’s deeply sensitive and she shows that in the ways in which she steps in and steps up for people around her, particularly Kelsey.

With women working both on screen and behind the camera, has this felt different from working on previous sets?

It is a lot. It’s a lot for everyone. I think the crew have expressed that they’ve been affected by every storyline as well. I’m grateful that there’s a cast full of people that are compassionate, understanding and also very funny. On jobs where the subject matter is really heavy, there’s often lots of levity in other areas because you have to find things to laugh about to shake it off. There’s a lot of support and admiration in the cast. I think we all learnt from each other and enjoyed the bits in between the takes.

Bella Ramsey (Kelsey)

Tell us about your character, Kelsey

Kelsey is full of life. She’s a bit of a joker and very young, immature and lost. But, on the other hand, she’s seen far too much. She’s 19 and faced a lot of difficulties in her life which sends her to where she is now. When we meet her, she’s a heroin addict and she finds out she’s pregnant. Her story evolves and she comes into herself. This addiction and the state that she’s got herself into is largely informed by her boyfriend, Adam, but she’s just a bit of a lost soul who ends up working things out and finding herself.

In lots of ways, Kelsey is very far removed from me, but as we’ve been filming and going through this I’ve found a lot of similarities and it was so natural for me to play her. But initially, when I read the script, I was genuinely afraid I wouldn’t be able to do it. I’d get on set and then it just wouldn’t work. But thankfully it did, I think.

Tell us what it’s been like working with the other actors that you’re with

Time is such an ensemble. Everyone’s so giving and generous – we just immediately got on and are there for each other, supporting each other, and messing about. The big group scenes with all of us are a nightmare for everybody because right up until action we’re gabbing!

How has it been filming highly emotional scenes?

There have been a lot of traumatic scenes on this and they stick in my mind because of how gruelling they were, but also how supported and safe I felt during all that. It’s also fun between takes, I think when something really funny happens during a really emotional scene it’s 1000 times funnier than it would be at any other time – the moments where you shouldn’t laugh are just the funniest. What I love about doing this is that every take you find something different. The Time storylines are so real and alive and the stakes are so high.

I’m quite good in between takes, I’m good at not carrying things with me. One of the things that I’ve done since I started in this industry is, after an emotional scene, as soon as they say cut I pull a stupid face or do a massive smile to let everybody know I’m fine. With the bigger, more physical scenes, it’s much easier to snap in and out of because you have so much adrenaline. But with the more quiet and introspective, ones, I really tried to stay in a bit more.

What research did you do to prepare for the role and how did you utilise that for your performance?

I was keen to do research for this. I got to go to visit a prison. I didn’t realise that women’s prisons tend to work differently in that there isn’t just one building that everyone’s in, it’s more of a complex of residential units where groups of women will stay. I talked with somebody who was about to be released in five weeks – she’d been in and out of prisons since she was 15 and was addicted to cocaine and alcohol. Although her story was different, hearing her talk about addiction and how it feels in your body was really helpful for me. It was amazing that she was so open and shared with me – I don’t think I’ll ever forget going there and hearing her story. She said something that I carry with me, especially into the scenes where Kelsey is really struggling and really needs the drugs. She said that you feel addiction everywhere in your body – if you want the hit and the whole of your body wants it, it’s almost like electricity coursing through you.

What did you love about the first series?

I watched the first series during the first week of filming and it really affected me. I thought it was amazing. I love the fact that it’s just three episodes, but within those three episodes so much happens. The performances of Stephen Graham and Sean Bean were just phenomenal. Watching that just made me feel so honoured to be working on this second version of it. I love the humanity that is given to the prison staff. They feel like real people, not caricatures or stereotypes.

Tell us about Jimmy’s writing and the process of reading the scripts for the series

Jimmy’s writing is very nuanced. What’s really struck me about his writing is the confidence that he has just to have really simple dialogue, just be like: ‘Yeah, that’s what would happen, it’s not elaborate or fancy, it’s just real people having real conversations.’ He’s created really nuanced characters with so many layers beneath them that so when you read the script, you are suddenly piecing together this character that he’s created. He’s amazing.

• Time series one is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now