Time series 3 further casting announced for the return of Jimmy McGovern’s award-winning drama

The BBC has announced the further cast joining David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran in the third series of Jimmy McGovern’s BAFTA-winning hit drama Time, as filming begins in Belfast.

Time series three is written by multi-award-winning screenwriter Jimmy McGovern (Unforgivable, Cracker, The Street) and Samuel Bailey (Shook). It is made by BBC Studios Fiction for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, in co-production with BritBox.

Joining the cast are Vinette Robinson (Boiling Point, The Lazarus Project) as Erica, Jo Joyner (Little Disasters, Stay Close) as Nicola, Daniel Ryan (Such Brave Girls, The Bay) as Custodial Manager Jennings, Warren Brown (Ten Pound Poms, The Responder) as Albie, Louis McCartney (Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Hope Street) as James, with Ollie McNulty and Chukwubuikem Molokwu making their screen debuts as Peter and Christopher, and Ethaniel Davy (Chicken Town, Hollyoaks) playing Jayden.

Further cast members include Victor Zhao, Paul Smith Junior, Finn Kearns and Jack Barnes, who also make their screen debuts as Jietang, Toby, Mark and Chaz respectively.

Set in a Young Offenders Institution, the series will explore the impact of locking up teenagers and the effects on those who look after them.

Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise comes to the YOI having lost her faith. When tragedy strikes within the prison, Marie-Louise clashes with veteran officer Bailey, a man in the midst of his own crisis. Bailey knows more about the circumstances that led to this major incident – but will he come clean before the guilt gets too much?

Meanwhile, two teenage young offenders, Peter and James, struggle through the terrifying first weeks and months of their incarceration. Can James ever face his broken parents after an unforgivable act of violence and will Peter tell the truth about the death of an innocent man, or does family loyalty mean more? An unlikely friendship between them looks to shift the trajectory of their futures, but in an increasingly unstable environment, is change ever possible?

Series creator and writer Jimmy McGovern says: “What a wonderful cast. I am utterly delighted!”

Co-writer Samuel Bailey says: “It's been an absolute honour to work with Jimmy on Time series 3, and with the brilliant cast put together by the team, I think this series will be just as impactful and devastating as Time 1 & 2. I'm particularly excited for audiences to meet the lads playing our young offenders, who are all remarkable actors that I know we're going to be seeing a lot more of in the future."

Time series three (3x60’) is a BBC Studios Fiction production for BBC iPlayer and BBC One, co-produced by BritBox for North America, with support from Northern Ireland Screen. The series is written by Jimmy McGovern and Samuel Bailey, directed by Paul Whittington (This Town, The Crown) and produced by Amanda Black (Blue Lights, World on Fire). The executive producers are Josh Cole, Andrew Morrissey and Michael Parke for BBC Studios Fiction, Lucy Richer for the BBC, Jon Farrar and Jess O'Riordan for BritBox, and Jimmy McGovern. BBC Studios is handling global sales.

Time series one and two are available to stream on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on BritBox in North America.

• Watch Time on BBC iPlayer and add to your Watchlist

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