Jodie Whittaker ‘to lead Time season 2’, set in women’s prison

The former Doctor is set to be leading the sequel of BBC One’s Time.

By Morgan Cormack

Published: Monday, 03 April 2023 at 12:00 am

Former Doctor Who actor Jodie Whittaker is set to take on a very different drama in what is to be her first major role since leaving the long-running sci-fi series.

Whittaker will be leading BBC One’s hit drama Time which, until now, has had details of its forthcoming season kept firmly under wraps. Now, we know that the new season will be set in a women’s prison, with Whittaker starring as an inmate.

The first season starred Stephen Graham and Sean Bean and followed the pair in their alternate (but very similar) realities of being a prison officer and inmate. Graham starred as morally compromised prison officer Eric McNally, while Bean starred as Mark Cobden, a former teacher who was consumed by guilt and haunted by demons from his own past.

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Sean Bean as Mark Cobden in Time.
BBC/James Stack

The series was released to much critical acclaim, leading to it getting a renewal, leaving fans wondering just what the second instalment of the gripping miniseries would be about. We knew that the former leads would not be returning to Time season 2, and it had been previously revealed to RadioTimes.com that the new season would take place in an all-female prison.

Now, it’s been reported (via The Sun) that Whittaker will be playing a very similar character to Bean’s in the first season. But what is her character’s back story and what will unfold while she’s in prison?

RadioTimes.com has contacted the BBC for comment.

If the first instalment is anything to go by, Time season 2 will be pretty unguessable (and very tense), but according to reports by The Sun, it most definitely is a change of pace for Whittaker.

According to the newspaper, a TV insider said: “This is a fantastic role for Jodie, and not just because she’s joining forces with a top writer and starring in a show which has already proved a hit.

“Playing a prisoner banged up behind bars is also a massive departure for her, given that she became best known for playing a heroic figure who roamed the universe. But that’s exactly the sort of challenging part Jodie would have wanted.”

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In an interview with Radio Times magazine last year, Charlotte Moore, BBC chief content officer, also confirmed The Responder, Vigil and The Tourist would be returning for second outings alongside Time.

She said: “In its first 30 days, 12 million people watched The Tourist – that’s twice as big as the largest show, Stay Close, on Netflix. The power that the BBC has to reach millions of people is far greater than we perhaps realise.”

Whittaker played the Thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor from 2017 to 2022, taking the mantle from Peter Capaldi and was the first woman to lead the hit sci-fi series. It’s been a busy time for Whittaker also, with her also being confirmed to lead new Paramount Plus drama One Night.

While there hasn’t been a confirmed release date for that new drama either, we do know that it will see Whittaker once again helm a hard-hitting series. In it she will star as Tess, one of three friends whose friendship was destroyed by a traumatic event that took place 20 years ago.