Siobhan Finneran is returning for more Time.
A third season of Jimmy McGovern’s award-winning drama is coming to BritBox, with David Tennant joining the cast. It will be set in a young offenders’ institution.
“Siobhan Finneran is back! And we’ve got a wonderful leading man in David Tennant. And a brilliant director in Paul Whittington. I think it’s going to be wonderful,” said creator and writer Jimmy McGovern in a statement when the third season was announced in November 2025.
Andrew Morrissey, Executive Producer for BBC Studios Fiction, added, “It is a privilege to be making a third series of Time with such a fantastic team. We are excited to introduce the audience to a whole new part of the prison system. Once we started the research, we knew there were stories that demanded to be told.”
Read on for everything we know about Time Season 3, from the plot to the premiere date, and more.
When will Time Season 3 premiere?
That has yet to be announced. Season 1 was released in 2021, and Season 2 came two years later, in 2023.
Who stars in Time Season 3?
Siobhan Finneran reprises her role as prison chaplain Marie-Louise, which she played across the first two seasons. David Tennant is new for this season and will be playing Prison Officer Bailey.
The first season starred Stephen Graham and Sean Bean, and the second Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance, Bella Ramsey, and Finneran.
The season is a BBC Studios Fiction production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer, co-produced by BritBox for North America with support from Northern Ireland Screen.
The series is written by Jimmy McGovern and Samuel Bailey. Serving as executive producers are McGovern, Josh Cole, Andrew Morrissey and Michael Parke for BBC Studios Fiction, Lucy Richer for the BBC, and Jon Farrar and Jess O’Riordan for BritBox. Amanda Black is producer. Paul Whittington directs.
What is Time Season 3 about?
“Set within a Young Offenders Institution, the season will explore the impact of locking up teenagers and the effects on those who look after them,” BritBox teases.
The description continues: “Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise comes to the YOI having lost her faith. 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?”
The season will be filmed in Belfast.
Is there a Time Season 3 trailer?
Not yet.
