Comic plays an inmate in hard-hitting Jimmy McGovern series

Sophie Willan has joined the cast of Jimmy McGovern’s award-winning drama Time.

The comedian will play inmate Maeve Riley in the BBC One hit when it returns for a second series this autumn.

It comes two years after the first season which featured Sean Bean as  newly imprisoned Mark Cobden, way out of his depth in the volatile world of prison life, and Stephen Graham as Eric McNally, a conscientious prison officer who helped him.

Series two is set in a women’s prison and involves three inmates who all arrive at the same day: Kelsey (Bella Ramsey), Orla (Jodie Whittaker) and Abi (Tamara Lawrance).

The BBC says: ‘Even with the ever-present threat of violence within its walls, they discover that an unexpected sense of community, and a shared understanding, still might be possible.’

An image released by the BBC - at the top of this story – shows Willan as Maeve working in the prison garden.

She won a Bafta last year for best female performance in a comedy programme for Alma’s Not Normal – having also been nominated for writing it. The show itself was also shortlisted for best scripted comedy. 

Her role in Time will see Willan reunited with Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran – who played her mother Lin, struggling with struggles with mental health issues and a heroin addiction, in the BBC Two comedy.  

Finneran reprises her role as prison chaplain Marie-Louise, which she played in Time’s first series, in the new episodes.

Willan’s other TV acting credits are playing Ruby on Still Open All Hours, Zooelia on the kids’ series Animal TV and the minor role of Jessie on the Stephen Merchant and Asim Chaudhry festive film Click & Collect. She has also provided the voiceover for Channel 4’s The Celebrity Circle. 

Series one of Time, which attracted between five and eight million viewers, won a Bafta for best mini-series, with Bean getting the best actor accolade. McGovern wrote the three hour-long episodes of series two with Helen Black.

Published: 25 Sep 2023