Time season 3 confirms more cast members - including an EastEnders fan-favourite
Who's joining David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran in the new episodes?
The BBC has expanded the cast of Time season 3, with EastEnders fan-favourite Jo Joyner among the new additions.
The third outing of the prison drama – filming on which has begun in Belfast – will be set in a young offenders’ institution and fronted by David Tennant, who will star as Prison Officer Bailey, while Siobhan Finneran of Downton Abbey and Happy Valley fame is reprising her role of prison chaplain Marie-Louise.
Alongside Joyner (Stay Close), who’s set to play Nicola, other new cast members include Vinette Robinson (Boiling Point) as Erica, Daniel Ryan (Such Brave Girls) as Custodial Manager Jennings and Warren Brown (The Responder) as Albie.
Louis McCartney (Stranger Things: The First Shadow) will also appear as James, and Ethaniel Davy (Hollyoaks) as Jayden, while Ollie McNulty and Chukwubuikem Molokwu will be making their screen debuts as Peter and Christopher.
Other new additions to the cast include Victor Zhao, Paul Smith Junior, Finn Kearns and Jack Barnes, who will also be making their screen debuts as Jietang, Toby, Mark and Chaz, respectively.
Series creator and writer Jimmy McGovern said in a statement: "What a wonderful cast. I am utterly delighted!"
Co-writer Samuel Bailey said that the new series will be "just as impactful and devastating as Time 1 & 2", adding that he's "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".
The first season of the prison drama aired in 2021, starring Sean Bean as prisoner Mark Cobden and Stephen Graham as his conflicted prison officer Eric McNally. Season 2 transferred to a women’s prison, and was fronted by Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance and Bella Ramsey.
Switching settings again to a young offenders’ institution, season 3 will "explore the impact of locking up teenagers and the effects on those who look after them", the BBC previously teased.
“Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise comes to the YOI having lost her faith," the official synopsis reads. "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?"
Time seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
