‘Time’ Sets Date for Season 3 Debut

BritBox has finally announced a premiere date for Season 3 of Time, and somehow the fact that it will stream over the heart of Spooky Season seems oddly appropriate.

The series isn’t technically part of the horror genre, but series creator Jimmy McGovern definitely means for the atrocities committed by the prison-industrial complex to hit viewers in the solar plexus. Originally a limited series about the dreadful experience of a men’s lockup for both prisoners and guards alike, the first season starred Sean Bean (This City is Ours) as the former and Stephen Graham (Adolescence) as the latter. Their breakout performances drove the show to massive ratings when the show debuted on the BBC in 2022, allowing McGovern to turn it into an anthology series, with Season 2 moving the action to a women’s lockup.

Now, with Season 3, McGovern moves the action again, this time to a lockup for boys under 17, known as YOI – the Young Offenders Institution. If you thought it was hard to watch how unforgiving, traumatizing, and uncaring the British justice system can be when those caught in it are adults, wait until you see it with literal children. McGovern has even finagled one of the biggest names in British TV on both sides of the pond into the lead role of Prison Officer Bailey, casting future OBE David Tennant as the main lead alongside the show’s only continuity character across the three seasons, Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise, played by Siobhan Finneran.

Here’s the Season 3 synopsis:

Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise comes to the YOI having lost her faith. When tragedy strikes in 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?

Tennant (Doctor Who) and Finneran (Downton Abbey) co-star alongside a handful of recognizable faces in the rest of the adult roles, including Daniel Ryan (The Bay) as Custodial Manager Jennings, Vinette Robinson (Boiling Point) as Erica, Warren Brown (A Taste for Murder) as Albie, and Jo Joyner (Stay Close) as Nicola. 

The lead teen ensemble includes Louis McCartney (Hope Street) as James, Ethaniel Davy (Galavant) as Jayden, and newcomers Ollie McNulty and Chukwubuikem Molokwu making their screen debuts as Peter and Christopher.

The supporting teen cast are all newcomers, with Victor Zhao, Paul Smith Jr., Finn Kearns, and Jack Barnes as Jietang, Toby, Mark, and Chaz, respectively.

McGovern once again penned all episodes, this time alongside writer Samuel Bailey. Director Paul Whittington (The Crown) helmed all installments, with Amanda Black producing. McGovern executive produces alongside Josh Cole, Andrew Morrissey & Michael Parke for BBC Studios Fiction, Lucy Richer for the BBC, and Jon Farrar & Jess O’Riordan for BritBox.

Time Season 3 debuts on Thursday, October 22, 2026, and streams one episode a week through the beginning of November. BritBox has not said if the show will get an early premiere for BritBox Premier subscribers; we emailed to ask, and will update this post as information becomes available.

Time

Jimmy McGovern's drama anthology about the realities of the British prison system.

BritBox Time

Seasons 1 and 2 of Time are streaming on BritBox.