[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Time Season 2.]

The Big Picture

Season 2 of ‘Time’ focuses on the struggles in women’s prison, emphasizing the lack of support for reintegration.
Jodie Whittaker shared insights on joining the project and emotional scenes in the series.
Working with the ensemble and filming the communal scenes was a highlight of the rewarding experience.

In Season 2 of Time, available to stream on BritBox, Orla (Jodie Whittaker), a single mother of three just trying to get by, finds herself sent to prison for tampering with the electricity meter to reduce the cost in order to protect her children. Once there, she meets Abi (Tamara Lawrance), an inmate doing a life sentence for a crime she’d rather not speak about, and Kelsey (Bella Ramsey), a pregnant teenager with a heroin addiction that keeps making questionable choices. And while prison does still have some sense of community, the constant threat of violence and lack of human connection, along with zero support system for the inmates that do get released, doesn’t provide much opportunity for successfully reintegrating into the world again.

During this interview with Collider, Whittaker talked about why she would have said yes to the project even without reading a script first, being a fan of her co-stars, shooting the communal scenes, and what it was like to shoot a particularly emotional mother-son moment. She also shared what it was like to enter the tent for The Great Celebrity Bake Off, and why she will always treasure her time on Doctor Who.

Time Eric is a prison officer who tries to protect those in his charge. When one of the most dangerous inmates identifies his weakness, Eric faces an impossible choice between his principles and his love for his family.Creator Jimmy McGovern Seasons 2

Jodie Whittaker Says ‘Time’ Season 2 Is So Much More Than a Three-Hander
Image via BritBox

Collider: This is quite a moving and emotionally impactful story. When this came your way, how much were you told about it? Did you know what the full arc would be for your character and for this trio of women?

JODIE WHITTAKER: One thing that was really amazing was that I was sent episodes one and two. That, in itself, gave me such a sense of who everybody is. You obviously can’t necessarily predict where it’s gonna go, but for me as a Brit, if something says Jimmy McGovern on it, you wanna do it. And if it’s Time Season 2, Time Season 1 was extraordinary and some of the best television I’ve seen. So, for it to be within that world, but its own standalone piece, and to know that Helen Black, who is a phenomenal writer, was co-writing with Jimmy, you’re just like, “Oh, my God!” I’ve done some higher profile jobs, but to have them say, “We thought of you as Orla,” was so exciting and needed no reading, to be fair. But as I did start to read it, I was just completely engrossed.

I also think the ensemble is so vital. It is a three-hander, but essentially, it’s a 15-hander because everybody’s role is so vital. For me, in my world, it’s the children and my mum. It’s also the interaction with the prison officers and the social worker. For Kelsey’s character, it’s the boyfriend. For Abi’s character, it’s the dynamic between the inmates. But for all of us, it’s that. It was a hugely rewarding piece because not only were we in something that we were all so excited by and felt so passionate about, but we also all loved each other, and we really got on. In between, it was an absolute joy to be on set.

You’ll be familiar with some people’s work, and you won’t be familiar with some other people. Faye McKeever, who played Tanya, is a very talented actor in the UK, but you often associate her with comedy. That’s what’s so brilliant about casting. You can have all these opinions of what you think we all are, like I’m the Doctor on Doctor Who or whatever, and then given this dream script, we were in this position to create these amazing characters and were given the space to work and show different sides of ourselves in a way that we were all challenged with.

Related Bella Ramsey Forms a Connection With Jodie Whittaker in ‘Time’ Season 2 Trailer The BBC series also stars Tamara Lawrance.

As you read this, you probably got a sense of what it would put you through, emotionally. Did you ever hesitate about torturing yourself, in that way?

WHITTAKER: Before Doctor Who, all the things that I did were very much drama-led and were women who were going through a particular struggle. And then, Doctor Who makes it seem as if you’re in the sci-fi world. I suppose gravity always pulls me back because the job I was doing when I was offered this was One Night in Australia, which actually centered around three women and a friendship, with the backstory being about historical sexual assault. Weirdly, that was the first job I did after the Doctor, so there must be something to do with drama or the portrayal of characters that challenge me in a way, that I just naturally gravitate towards. I think the challenge with Orla was that I’m from the same place, I’m the same age, and I didn’t need to do a dialect session. I spent four months doing an Australian accent, and then I got to just turn up and be like, “I know how to do this.”

There were so many things that felt familiar, but there was also such a caged lioness about her that was really challenging to play. In that, sometimes when the cage opened, she makes the wrong decisions, or she does challenging things. When you playing someone that you love, you can be as angry with them as they are at the world. But what I found so fascinating was the passion that I felt educated me on all the storylines. Because Orla’s punishment doesn’t meet the crime, the grenade effect that it has on her life makes no sense, and that inner rage that it gave me was fascinating. Jimmy and Helen’s research was so detailed. Everything that happens to Orla is happening or has happened to someone, even though it’s not a documentary, so that injustice takes you over a bit.

The women in these prisons are stripped down and everything is stripped away from them. They’re kept in this confined environment together, which is bound to cause tension, no matter what their backgrounds and circumstances are. What was it like to figure out that group dynamic and to explore that between the characters?

WHITTAKER: When we had the group scenes, whether it be the visiting room or the communal area within the women’s prison, once they’ve gone through the induction, what would end up happening, particularly for my character and probably for Tamara [Lawrance] as well, although I don’t wanna speak for her, me, as Jodie, was much closer to everyone in real life than my character actually was. I’d be like, “I think I’d sit here.” And they’d be like, “No, you wouldn’t. You’d be sitting over there by yourself, sulking.” And I’d be like, “But I wanna sit with them.” And then, the minute someone said, “Cut,” you’d be running over. I imagine for the director, in a few scenes, it was like herding cats, particularly the long walking scenes when we’re carrying plastic bags. The minute they’d say cut, we’d be in a massive group of love and chemistry because we just all got on. And the wonderful thing was that, in that joy and safeness, it created a space where, when there is something incredibly challenging happening to a character in a scene, that love and support was there, so they knew the work they could do because they knew the support network was there. That’s really important, and that certainly was the case for me on this job.

Jodie Whittaker Is a Big Fan of Her ‘Time’ Season 2 Co-Stars

What was it like to work specifically with Bella Ramsey and Tamara Lawrance? Did you guys spend time together to get to know each other or have rehearsals together, or were you just thrown into this?

WHITTAKER: Without being a method actor in any way, I was quite method because I was two and a half weeks late for the start of shooting because I was in Australia. Everyone had rehearsed, and then I turned up and the WhatsApp group had already been formed and everyone was already mates. I was the kid that was left out and was like, “Excuse me, can someone join me into the WhatsApp group?” What was wonderful for me was that I walked into a ready-made family. For the scenes that involved sitting in the group, because I was not involved in that, they could shoot that while I wasn’t there, so they got that done. So, this family came together, all fell in love and got along, and then I just made sure that I wasn’t the square peg in a round hole and didn’t ruin it.

I’d just seen The Silent Twins and Small Axe, and Tamara is an amazing actress. It was so incredible to work with her. I’d never worked with her before. And with Bella, I was on episode four of The Last of Us when I got to set. At one point, they walked into my trailer and I was like, “I’m so stressed!,” because I was watching it. It was just that wonderful thing of going from one day not knowing people, to the next day feeling as if I’d met my family. That is what the joy of a working actor is. We were going through the strikes. I think the writers’ strike was looming, at the point that we were filming, and we’d all come through COVID. We all know this industry isn’t a guarantee and we know that working as an actor isn’t a guarantee. So, being on a set, we just felt blessed and enjoyed it because you’d miss it if it were gone.

One of the most emotionally moving moments in this is toward the end when Orla gets out and meets up with her son and tries to reconnect with him. What was that moment like to shoot? How was it to work with that young actor? Did you have conversations about how you wanted to approach that emotionally?

WHITTAKER: No. That, for me, is the absolute killer. Our director, Andrea [Harkin] was an absolute dream, but if someone told me how to act in the scene, in the sense of, “This is what I think you’d do,” I’d be like, “Well, I don’t know yet.” Maybe this comes across as someone at school who corner cut everything and need a lot of effort in the homework, but I do not want to know anything until it happens. For me, if I’ve decided anything, what is the point of that wonderful actor being in the scene with me, because I’m not even listening, having already decided how I’m gonna do it. There’s also the chaos of the noises outside, when vans go past while you’re filming, and there are things in your eyeline, and there’s all that chaos happening. My main thing is to always make sure to know that whatever’s happening, you’ve done your bit, which is to learn your lines. So, I always know my lines, but apart from that, there is very little decision in anything.

I certainly don’t want to think someone’s expecting something of me because it’s immediately not gonna be genuine. What was incredible about working with Isaac [Lancel-Watkinson] was that he was putting on a completely different accent. He’s from Liverpool and his accent is totally different. He responded so well. It wasn’t in the script, but I kissed his hand and he didn’t pull his hand away. He could have pulled his hand away, but he didn’t. What was amazing was that neither of us had an idea about how we were gonna react. And Andrea gave us private notes. I didn’t know how he was gonna react because I got a private note, and he got a private note. It was the least performative environment, which was wonderful for me. It made me feel like I could be as honest as I could possibly be in the situation. The kids that they cast – the two other children, as well – were phenomenal. That really makes a difference.

Jodie Whittaker Was Willing to Humiliate Herself for ‘The Great Celebrity Bake Off’ For a Greater Cause
Image via Channel 4

I recently watched your episode of The Great Celebrity Bake Off. What was it like to get to do that? How is the experience of being a part of that show and competing as a baker? Is that something you ever imagined you’d do?

WHITTAKER: No. The thing is, I filmed it the weekend after I’d wrapped, so I was so in need of a laugh. I’ve never done anything celebrity-based before. The only reason you do the Stand Up 2 Cancer Bake Off is because of the overriding message that it isn’t about you. It’s about a massive greater cause. But the reality is, as a fan of the show, you get to go into the tent and humiliate yourself, as far as I’m concerned, because you’ve got a microphone on you. I don’t have a podcast. I don’t do things as myself, apart from press, and even with that, I’m talking about work. So, I had no idea my accent was so thick. I’m absolutely shit at baking. I had such a good laugh, but the paranoia I had, because I had a microphone on me for two days and a camera, and you don’t know when the camera is on you. I was like, “I am going to come across as a horrific human being.” I’m given a script, so I’m not relied upon. And I didn’t realize how much I talk out loud. I just said everything out loud. I was like, “Thank God, it was for a good cause.”

Related ‘Doctor Who’: 9 Best Episodes Featuring Jodie Whittaker’s Time Lord You don’t need a Tardis to revisit these adventures

When I spoke to Peter Capaldi earlier this year, he told me that the first time you step out of a TARDIS for Doctor Who is a pretty nerve-wracking and scary thing. How was that moment for you? Is it nerve-wracking and scary? Is it fun and exciting? Is it a ton of emotions at once? What’s it like to know that you’re part of a club of a pretty small group of actors who have gotten to do that, in comparison to how many actors there are in the world?

WHITTAKER: The thing for me that was so amazing was that the first time I was in the TARDIS as the Doctor, I got kicked out of it, straight away. I was thrown through space and was falling to Earth. As introductions and regens go, all of them are wonderful, and you feel very blessed with your own, but mine was so exciting, to immediately have this reveal that it was me. For the character, I was suddenly taking on a completely different form. And then, the TARDIS had such a response, so my entire introduction to Doctor Who was full-on throwing myself on the ground, flinging around, and falling through the sky. It was amazing. The epic, overwhelming sense of emotion I felt was playing out in the episode. There’s no job like it. There’s no world like it. It’ll be the thing I’ll treasure the most because it’s such a unique moment of your life to be told that you’re going to play an iconic role. If you’re a kid and you want to be an actor, for me, it was a role I never thought I’d be able to play, so it was an absolute dream. And Peter is an amazing artist. He drew me the most beautiful postcard for my first day of filming. It had a TARDIS with a welcome mat. I thought, “I’m gonna do that.” But I can’t draw, so I sent a card instead.

Related Jodie Whittaker Reveals Favorite ‘Doctor Who’ Episode of Her Run It lived up to every expectation she had, the star says.

Time is available to stream on BritBox. Check out the trailer:

Watch on BritBox