Liverpool Film Office has made an investment in Jimmy McGovern’s new BBC One production Time using funding from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Strategic Investment Fund.
The three-part prison drama is currently being filmed across the Liverpool City Region and reunites McGovern with Sean Bean and Stephen Graham.
Time is described as a “visceral, emotional and high-stakes portrayal of life in a British prison”. Mark Cobden (Bean) is consumed by guilt after accidentally killing an innocent man.
Accepting his four-year sentence and separated from his family, he meets Eric McNally (Graham), a caring prison officer doing his best to protect those in his charge.
“However, when one of the most dangerous inmates identifies his weakness, Eric faces an impossible choice; between his principles and his family.”
This is the second Liverpool-based and Fund-backed shoot that Graham is headlining, following the recent announcement of its investment in Channel 4/The Forge’s Help (working title), alongside Jodie Comer.
Time was commissioned by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer. It is directed by Lewis Arnold (Des, Humans) and executive produced by Tom Sherry and Michael Parke for BBC Studios Production and Lucy Richer for the BBC alongside McGovern, Bean and Graham. The producer is Simon Maloney (King Charles III, I May Destroy You) and the series is distributed internationally by BBC Studios.
Chris Moll, Executive Producer and Fund Advisor for LCR Production & Development Funds, said: “A cracking Jimmy McGovern script with two of Britain’s best actors filming in the City Region is everything we’d hoped to support with the LCR Production Fund. Following the heart-wrenchingly powerful Anthony, Time is a testament to Jimmy’s unique ability to tell true and complex stories – brought to life by virtuosi in front and behind the camera.”
McGovern added: “I am so grateful to the Liverpool City Region Production Fund for its substantial contribution to the budget for Time, my new three part drama for the BBC.
“Film and television production brings with it vital, well-paid jobs and the Liverpool Film Office plays a crucial part in ensuring that many of those jobs come here.”
