Time - new series starring Sean Bean

dolphindaisy

It was a brilliant drama but very disturbing, in my opinion you can't go wrong with a Sean Bean/Jimmy McGovern production, especially when the other actors are also so good.

I suspect the Sean Bean character will "turn" before the end.

One interesting fact - years ago Sue Johnston played Sean Bean's love interest in a play but this time is playing his mother, she did point out that it shows how ageing male actors are more accepted than their female counterparts.

Well Sean Bean is now 62 (born 1959) and Sue Johnston is 77 (born 1943) so in fairness she is 16 years older and not quite his counterpart.

And guess who was also in there, Tommy Hunter from Line of Duty. I thought he was dead! ?

Eleothan I didn’t connect that actor with the chap in the Pact he was very much thinner and his face looked much different?

There was an ex prisoner on TV today. He said the series was very true to life. He had seen the boiling kettle attack scenario a few times. He also said, as Lucky girl says above, that there are many who are mentally ill and shouldn't be in prison.
He said the only thing he found unrealistic was that Stephen Graham's character almost gave Sean Bean one to one attention. He said there are nowhere near enough officers for that .

I didn't even realise it was the same actor. In The Pact he looked fuller in the face and broader generally.

Eleothan, Aneurin Barnard was killed off in the first episode of The Pact too. Maybe that's his forte???

Luckylegs

I agree, it was good, heart stoppingly good and terrifying. I do hope it’s not as bad as that in all prisons, you wouldn’t dare put your nose outside the cell door, would you? It’s not portrayed like that in Corrie, is it! They sit around talking amiably, have their own personal phones, amble about playing pool etc. What a shocker it was!

There are different categories of prisons so I suppose there is a big variation. Open prisons for example would be very different. I hope I never actually find out!

It’s time the lovely Sean Bean got a ‘happier’ role to play.

What with Time, World On Fire, Broken to name but three, he always seems to be playing such sad parts.

Even in his Yorkshire Tea advert he is full of angst!

Urmstongran I don't agree with your point that if our prisons were much tougher, criminals would be far less likely to re-offend.

The US imprisons a lot of people and has one of the toughest prison systems in the developed world. Yet the recidivism rate is 76.6%. The UK also imprisons a lot of people and conditions are reported to be pretty appalling, and getting worse. The recidivism rate is almost 50%. Compare that to Norway where far fewer people are imprisoned and prison conditions are what some people in the UK might liken to a "holiday camp" (though, along with a much more liberal and respectful approach, there are apparently quality training opportunities to prepare offenders for life outside). The recidivism rate in Norway is 20%.

Of course, there are demographic and cultural differences that must be acknowledged but there does not appear to be any evidence to support the idea that harsh prisons reduce future offending. The opposite seems to be the case.

I agree, it was good, heart stoppingly good and terrifying. I do hope it’s not as bad as that in all prisons, you wouldn’t dare put your nose outside the cell door, would you? It’s not portrayed like that in Corrie, is it! They sit around talking amiably, have their own personal phones, amble about playing pool etc. What a shocker it was!

Ellan I have never been inside a prison but some of the people I trained with when I was doing a course in teaching adult literacy regularly went into prisons. They said anyone who thinks prison life is too cushy have no idea how depressing and frightening prisons are. So I think McGovern probably portrayed prison life fairly realistically, and I think that is a disgrace.

I have watched the whole three episodes and think Sean Bean and Stephen Graham were absolutely brilliant, and the rest of the cast was great too. The actor who took the part of Sean Bean's first cell mate was extraordinary believable - frightening and heartbreaking in equal measure.

We've just finished all 3 episodes. Excellent acting, although this southerner did resort to subtitles at times. Tugged at the heartstrings.

Still tempted to say "Seen Been"" or "Shawn Bawn"

Listened to “Law in Action” on Radio 4 this afternoon (4 pm) on Traumatic brain injury and crime’. It was pretty relevant to the scenes in “Time”. Worth listening to.

It is worth watching all 3 episodes.

I watched it and it was certainly gritty and uncomfortable viewing - I'll stick with it to see how it concludes.

Thankfully, yes. When most of us on here think we’re having a bad day it doesn’t come near to what some are having.

You are right Calendargirl - most people have no idea what goes on in other spheres. My knowledge of the prison system has expanded vastly - and none of it is good.

The fact that people reoffend regularly is not an indication that prison is too soft; but evidence that many people who land up in prison are so damaged mentally and emotionally by their upbringing or by genetics that being in prison feels safer than being on the outside, as they lack the skills to manage normal life.

In the case of my relative I am dreading him being released as I am sure that the gangs will beat him to pulp once they know he is out. It really is another world out there, that preys on the vulnerable.

It made grim watching, not the usual cosy Sunday night drama.

I know some of you will have watched all three episodes, not me. I expect more will come out about Sean’s death by dangerous driving, and also why Stephen Graham’s son is in prison.

Makes you realise most of us have absolutely no idea what goes on in other areas of life.

Watched it on iplayer. I wept.

My friend went to prison for fraud and embezzlement. The first I knew of it was when I received a letter from Holloway prison asking if I’d visit.
The only thing she came out with was an education of how she got caught and what to do to prevent this.
She never changed, the fraud and embezzlement only became bigger.

In an ideal world I’d agree with you totally Doodledog but are taxpayers going to be prepared to throw an awful lot of money at this broken system? It needs an overhaul and robust management. And many more staff. And the bottom line? Sadly, most inmates are not Sean Bean types. So the mentally challenged (can’t read or write), the mentally ill, the bad boys with paranoia from broken homes? They can rot. Out of sight, out of mind. ‘Just get them off the streets and keep us safe’.

Very sad. But true I fear.

I’m not a criminologist, but I can’t help thinking that if prison life is like that in the Sean Bean drama then people (like him?) who go in as basically decent people who have made mistakes will come out damaged and hardened. Add that to the fact that it can be very difficult to go back to ‘straight’ living, as there is a lot of prejudice against ex-cons, then it’s not surprising that people reoffend.

In any case, whether they are about rehabilitation or punishment, prisons should not be places where violent criminals rule.

And yet, seriously, strange to say Doodledog it can’t be that bad (for some) as reoffending is a serious issue?

I personally don’t think ‘rehabilitation’ works.

Maybe prisons need to be even worse? Like ‘Bangkok Hilton’s?’ ... ‘you trash it & you live in it sunshine’. Forget phone cards or visiting rights. Enter one of those places of correction and you’d seriously never want to go back.

I’m off to watch Part 2 on BBC iPlayer now!

I hope that this stops some of the 'holiday camp' nonsense that is always trotted out when there is talk of prisons.

I agree that it would be terrifying from the journey in the prison van to the day you are released. The lack of privacy, the regulation of everything you do, from what you have to eat to when you go to bed, missing your family, not being able to do the things you normally enjoy - all of that is the punishment of a jail sentence. There should be no violence, fear and incitement to commit more crime as additional extras.