Jodie Whittaker has travelled straight from Time Lord to Time.
In Jimmy McGovern’s new British drama, a follow-up to his acclaimed 2001 series set in a men’s prison, the former Doctor Who star plays Orla.
She arrives at Carlingford Prison on the same day as two other new inmates – Kelsey (Bella Ramsey) and Abi (Tamara Lawrance).
Together they are hurled into a hostile environment. Despite the constant menace of violence, the trio try to edge towards some sense of community. It makes for powerful, yet often uncomfortable, viewing.
Whittaker, who was the first female Doctor and inhabited the Tardis for five years, details where Orla is at the start of the series.
“She is a single mother of three. We meet her in a stereotypical domestic scenario that any mother can appreciate, where you’re just trying to get your kids ready for school. But for Orla it’s particularly heightened because she’s in a rush to get somewhere that nobody knows she’s going to.
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Jodie Whittaker, who plays the prisoner Orla in Time, says, “The cost-of-living crisis has absolutely contributed to Orla’s situation”.
“The beauty of Jimmy’s writing is that the audience isn’t completely spoon-fed every scene.
“So you then have a very hard cut with her family realising that she’s gone to court and is then sent down for six months.”
The 41-year-old actor continues, “In law, there are very clear lines on what is legal and what is not legal – but then there are very blurred lines on what warrants prison sentences and what warrants fines.
“In Orla’s position, the crime doesn’t necessarily merit the sentence. The cost-of-living crisis has absolutely contributed to Orla’s situation.”
The first season of Time, which featured Sean Bean and Stephen Graham, was widely praised.
Whittaker outlines what it has been like telling this standalone story off the back of the success of the first season.
“As an actor, whenever you’re sent any script, it’s incredibly exciting because you are lucky enough to read all that hard work, especially when it follows something that has been so impactful, important, and of such high quality as Time series one.
“The fact that this is being told, not as a season two but as another unique, standalone piece covering different storylines and characters has been amazing.”
Whittaker, who has also starred in Broadchurch and Trust Me, goes on to consider how series two of Time might help alter people’s perspective on female prisons.
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Jodie Whittaker (far right) as Orla, with fellow prisoners Kelsey (Bella Ramsey) and Abi (Tamnara Lawrance), says the series Time is “giving a face to the statistics or the problems”.
“I think what Time series one did, and hopefully what this series is doing, is giving a face to the statistics or the problems.
“You can say there’s a wrong or a right, there’s a baddie and a goodie, or there’s a situation where there’s a bad decision and a good decision, but we all live in a grey area.”
The actor adds, “Some of us are in a lucky position – wherever we’re coming from or are going to, we are helped in many ways by society or the financial bracket we are in.
“All these things are contributing factors to your daily ability to choose certain things. For Orla, the domino effect of her being in prison shatters everything for her.”
Whittaker has enjoyed working with an ensemble cast on Time.
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Jodie Whittaker (far right), with Tamara Lawrance and Bella Ramsey, has loved working with the ensemble cast of Time. “It feels like the epitome of working on a team,” she says. “You feel like you’re in a football team or something.”
“The thing that’s been wonderful filming is just being in an environment of so many actors, in such an ensemble. You’re supported all day and given the space to work, to be challenged and to discover really brilliant details because there are other people in the scene.
“Sometimes, when you play characters like Orla that require such an emotional journey, it can make you a little bit insular, whereas Time is all about the ripple effect.”
She carries on, “It’s been brilliant. It feels like the epitome of working on a team. You feel like you’re in a football team or something. As characters, you’re not always playing on the same side, so it’s quite complicated and there are a few screams at the referee.”
Whittaker concludes by summing up what the work of McGovern – also responsible for such classic dramas as Cracker, Hillsborough, The Street and Accused – means to her.
“For me growing up, Jimmy’s writing was hugely impactful on my love of television.
“It was great hearing things in a voice that I understood. You know with Jimmy that the research has been done and you are in safe hands.
“This is an incredible ensemble of stories. I felt very lucky to be on set.”
Time, streaming on Neon
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