"You come here bad and you go out worse. It's money down the drain and everybody knows it, but everyone keeps shtoom."
— Bernard (season 1, episode 1)
Time is a 2021 British television series, created by Jimmy Mc Govern, written by McGovern and Helen Black, and produced by The BBC.
The first season follows new arrival Mark Cobden (Sean Bean) and prison officer Eric McNally (Stephen Graham).
Mark's a middle-aged teacher who's been sentenced to four years in prison. He's never been in jail before, and finds it hard to adapt.
Meanwhile, McNally's confronted by an inmate who somehow knows that his son David is serving a sentence in another prison, and suggests that some future favours may keep David safe...
The second season switches the setting to a women's prison, with an almost entirely different cast. Orla (Jodie Whittaker) is a single mother who unexpectedly gets a custodial sentence after tampering with her electricity meter. Kelsey (Bella Ramsey) is a heroin addict who doesn't realise she's pregnant until she's in prison. Abi (Tamara Lawrance) is serving life for murder.
Time contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Alcoholic:
- It's gradually revealed that Mark has a drinking problem. He lied to his wife about stopping, an ex-pupil remembers Mark being drunk in class, and Bernard speculates that Mark's preference for vodka is because it's easier to hide the smell. It culminates in the car accident that kills a man and sends Mark to prison.
- Orla's mother Elizabeth is an alcoholic. In season two, she's left caring for her grandchildren after Orla's unexpectedly imprisoned. Although she swears she'll stop drinking, she doesn't succeed and the kids are taken into care.
- Arc Villain: Jackson Jones is the very well-connected criminal behind the first season's plot. He knows Eric's son David is in jail elsewhere, and uses David's safety to blackmail his father. He also offers favours to other inmates, including Mark and Daniel, with a range of consequences.
- Armor-Piercing Response: In season one, after Sonia tells David that his father's smuggling goods into prison, to keep David safe, Eric reassures David that he won't get caught. David bluntly replies that when he committed his own crimes, he thought the same thing.
- Blunt "No": In season one Mark's wife visits prison to tell him that she's moving in with her new partner and requesting a divorce, he asks if she'll visit again. The answer is simply "No." and she walks out.
- British Brevity: There are only three hour-long episodes in each season.
- Captivity Harmonica: In season two, after Orla's sent back to prison for theft, her initial cellmate sits on the bed, constantly playing her harmonica.
- Contamination Situation: After Bernard starts cutting himself and Mark calls the guards, Bernard starts shouting that he won't leave the cell, and will smear them all with his "AIDS-infected blood". Mark is caught in the cell with the bloodsoaked, increasingly agitated Bernard while he's making these threats.
- First Rule of the Yard:
- In the first season, Johnno starts to bully Mark, interrupting phone calls and stealing food. Eventually, Mark challenges him and gets punched in the face, but doesn't retaliate. Jackson Jones tells him, shortly afterwards, that he's just made a huge mistake - he should have punched back, and now his life won't be worth living. That's horribly true, culminating in Johnno claiming that he's a snitch and trying to set him on fire. Mark goes back to Jones for guidance, and when Johnno next harasses him he retaliates and bites Johnno's ear while they're grappling. A later scene shows Johnno quietly waiting in line while Mark finishes a phone call, ear still bandaged.
- In the second season, only Abi's aggressive responses limit the harassment she gets after other inmates discover she killed her own infant son. It's discussed and subverted at the end of the season, after she tells the full story in a group meeting. Afterwards, Abi's convinced that now she's shown vulnerability, the attacks and harassment will increase. But after a heated conversation the other women in the house reevaluate her crimes and decide to leave her in peace.
- Flashback:
- The Cold Open to the final episode of season one shows the taxi incident mentioned in episode two, when Mark arrived home very drunk, couldn't get into the house and the police were called.
- Mark's speech in the last episode of season one is intercut with flashbacks that finally show the drunk driving accident where he killed a man, and the events that followed.
- Flashback Cut: The Cold Open to the second episode of season one includes a very brief flashback to the scene where Mark killed a cyclist in a car accident.
- The Gambling Addict: Paul's gambling habit spiralled into debt and he ended up robbing a betting shop. He says that, at that point, the only options he could think of were suicide, killing his wife, or stealing money, as he couldn't bear to tell her that he'd lost everything "again".
- Karma Houdini: In season one Jackson Jones blackmails Eric, arranges for Eric's son to be attacked, smuggles contraband into the prison and brutally beats Mark when he refuses to smuggle contraband in. There are no consequences. Mark accepts the beating as the price for his choice, so doesn't report Jackson. And even when Eric's arrested, he can't name Jackson without endangering his son, so chooses to stay silent.
- Killed Offscreen: In the final episode of season one, Mark discovers his father's been rushed to hospital, but a disturbance in prison means his phone call is abruptly ended before he can hear more. The chaplain phones Mark's family on his behalf and tells him that his father's passed away.
- Montage: In season one, after Eric is first blackmailed into smuggling contraband into the prison, there's a montage of inmates distributing, preparing and taking drugs.
- Outliving One's Offspring: In season one, after Bernard's suicide his mother is seen protesting outside the prison with a placard. She confronts McNally when he's leaving, holding him responsible for her son's death.
- Pariah Prisoner: In season two, Abi is reviled and bullied once other prisoners discover that she killed her own baby.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Season one's Arc Villain Jackson Jones may be Faux Affably Evil, but his trade in favours makes him fairly pragmatic. Daniel is rewarded for hiding contraband and Mark is offered advice and help for dealing with Johnno. When Eric refuses to smuggle a knife in, and explains his reasoning, Jackson seems to accept it. And when Mark refuses to collect contraband and tells Jackson he'd rather take a beating, Jackson arranges and leads the brutal beating, but seems to consider the debt paid afterwards (despite Kav intervening to cut it short) and seemingly leaves Mark in peace for the rest of his sentence.
- Real Stitches for Fake Snitches:
- In season one, some of the men who arrive in prison alongside Mark decide that one of their mates, who got a shorter sentence, must have snitched on them. He gets immediately attacked once they arrive. They later throw a kettle full of sugary boiling water over him. He says he doesn't report them because then he really would be a snitch.
- In season one, the bully Johnno may or may not truly believe that Mark is a snitch, but he gathers some people to punish him for snitching. They intend to maim him by pouring turpentine over his bare feet, then lighting it. Mark's only saved by his cellmate's return.
- In season two, after Abi and Tanya's fistfight, Tanya obtains a blade and tries to get into Abi's cell for revenge. Her first attempt fails, but Kelsey realises she's armed and secretly reports her. After Tanya's removed from the prison, Donna assumes Abi reported her and slashes her face in revenge.
- The Reveal:
- Brendan has always refused to say what ended his teenage friendship with Bobby Doyle and led to Bobby's murder. In the last episode of season one, as Bobby's parents have now died, Bobby's brother appears at the parole hearing and challenges him to finally admit what he did to lead to such a schism. Brendan told Bobby he loved him.
- Abi's serving a life sentence for murder, and says she killed her sister-in-law because the woman "annoyed" her. She's lying about her crime, and actually killed her own baby.
- Revenge Is a Dish Best Served: In the last episode of season two, after everyone discovers who Abi really murdered, inmates put excrement in her food.
- Rotating Protagonist: The second season is set in a women's prison, with an almost entirely different cast.
- Self-Harm: Bernard's upper body is covered in scars. He cuts himself to relieve the tension from panic attacks, comparing it to the hit that Mark gets from his first drink of the day.
- Silent Credits: For the first episode of season one, the closing credits have no theme music, just faint background noises associated with prison.
- Suicide by Pills: In season one, Bernard saves up his medication and, as soon as he's returned to his usual cell, takes an overdose.
- Troubled Teen: When he was 13, Brendan killed his best friend with a brick, after their friendship ended over a disagreement. He's been in prison ever since.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In season one, Brendan's not seen again after his parole hearing, when he finally reveals why his teenage friendship with his victim, Bobby, ended. The outcome of the hearing is never confirmed.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In the last episode of season one, David tells his parents that the prisoners who attacked him are now leaving him alone and Sonia tells him it's because his father's smuggling contraband to keep him safe. David bluntly calls him out, tells him he can't do that, and tells him what the consequences will be when he's caught.
- Would Hurt a Child: In season two, after Adam's unexpected attempt to pass drugs to Kelsey goes wrong, he threatens to kill both Kelsey and her baby if she testifies against him.
"When I came in here... I had an house, a job and a family. Now I've got nothing. "
— Orla O'Riordan (season 2, episode 1)
