Time season 2 review: Prison drama is BBC at its very best

That remains a key concern of the drama's second season, which McGovern co-wrote alongside Helen Black. He had no plans to revisit Time, but the BBC floated the idea of shifting the focus to a women's prison, which McGovern thought was "interesting".

After some thought he was on board, but he wanted a female writer working alongside him. Black, whose credits include Life and Death in the Warehouse, a searing indictment of the exorbitant pressures placed on warehouse workers, had exactly what he was looking for.

That's not to say men can't write female characters well, but would a male writer consider what it would be like for your period to expectedly start in prison when you don't have any sanitary products? Possibly, but possibly not.

That happens to Orla (Jodie Whittaker) in the first episode. Until she can get herself sorted, she shoves wads of toilet paper in her underwear, an uncomfortable situation many a woman will recognise, and one of the many small but crucial details in Time that grounds the series in reality.

Orla's crime? Caring for her children. The single mother-of-three has been sentenced to six months for "fiddling" her electricity usage after mounting bills simply became too much, a desperate reality for thousands of people across the UK right now in the current cost of living crisis. It's staggering that someone so clearly in need would have their life ripped apart at the hands of the state, but it happens, and McGovern and Black want you to sit with that.

Whittaker is perfectly cast as Orla, a first-time offender who's best described as a deer in headlights when she enters prison. You can feel her blind panic and desperation pulsing through the screen as she struggles to come to terms with the turn her life has taken. We see her scrambling to arrange care for her children while behind bars, who she dropped at school that morning but can't collect following her sentencing. The scenes when they visit her at the prison, during which Orla's young daughter clings to her for dear life, will break your heart and show the true cost of her punishment.

We're also introduced to Kelsey (Bella Ramsey), a 19-year-old heroin addict in an abusive relationship whose habit is "miles bigger than last time" she was inside. Ramsey was arguably given the most challenging role in portraying someone who is in the throes of addiction – they told Radio Times magazine that they "got too into" the performance on one occasion, adding: "I was starting to lose my sense of self" – but anyone who has watched them in The Last of Us, although a very different show, will know that they thrive on challenge.

Kelsey is pregnant, which is far from ideal given her double predicament, but the way in which her arc unfolds over the three episodes will surprise some viewers. Time consistently subverts expectation and Kelsey, more than any other character, will nurture your sense of hope, against all odds, which is remarkable from a story set within such a brutal world, and one of the reasons the first season moved me as much as it did.

There's also Abi, played by Tamara Lawrance, who reveals she's serving a life sentence for murdering her sister-in-law. When one of the inmates steals her hair oil and cream, she doesn't hesitate in letting rip, but there's something about the way she carries herself, even when throwing her weight around, that suggests this doesn't come easily to her.

Abi stands apart from the others in a number of ways, one being her background. She comes from a level of privilege that is alien to the other women around her, although that didn't insulate her from the conditions that contributed to her imprisonment. The role, which initially seems like a relatively straightforward one, shows itself to be deeply layered and deceptively tricky over the course of the series as we learn more about Abi, which Lawrance seamlessly navigates.

Her inclusion also emphasises that the prison population isn't a monolith that moves and breathes as one, but contains all manner of people who have done all manner of things, both unintentionally and with white-hot intent.

Given that there are now three leads as opposed to two in Bean and Graham, this season of Time does feel more stretched than the first chapter, and could possibly have benefitted from an additional episode. Kelsey's addiction, in particular, isn't tackled robustly enough.

The big Victorian building that housed the male inmates in season 1 has also been replaced by a very different set up here – director Andrea Harkin described it as being like a "sh*tty halls of residence" – which dilutes the claustrophobic atmosphere that made season 1 such a compelling watch.

And as much as my heart repeatedly broke for Orla, Kelsey and Abi, Bean's award-winning performance got under my skin in a way that hasn't been matched here. But others will, of course, feel differently. Graham's storyline as the compromised prison officer, which led to that extraordinary exchange between the two men in the final episode, was a genius bit of storytelling that also gives season 1 the edge.

But this latest instalment has a strong social conscience that makes the show as relevant as ever, delivering an antidote to the statistics and inflammatory headlines that colour our view of what it means to be a criminal – but never at the expense of the victims, I should add, whose pain is laid out in unflinching detail.

Read more:

• Time star Bella Ramsey explains why new role "terrified" them
• Jodie Whittaker almost missed out on Time role: 'It was very upsetting'

Through the core trio and ensemble cast – Julie Graham, Sophie Willan and Faye McKeever all feature, among others – McGovern and Black illustrate just how quickly any of our lives could fall apart – the most influential art forces you to consider your place in the world and how all of us intersect with one another – whether through being failed by those closest to us or by wider society and the powers that be, which also extends to the prison system itself. There's a particularly staggering moment involving a tent that will leave you aghast.

It's not about making excuses or diminishing personal responsibility, but simply looking at key context and asking: how did this happen? And could it have been prevented?

And, crucially, the drama also looks at how, with the right support, lives can be rebuilt, even with the odds stacked against them. For all that is exceptionally grim and difficult to watch, it highlights how community can develop in the most unexpected of places, such as a prison, and lift you up.

Once again McGovern, alongside Black, has delivered a brilliant piece of television that wholly deserves your time.

Time season 2 premieres on BBC One on Sunday 29th October at 9pm. Season 1 is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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