Time explores the two sides of the penal system, the punishers and the punished, and how prison affects all who pass through.

Mark Hebden (Bean), teacher, husband and father, welcomes a four-year jail sentence for killing an innocent man in an accident, having been consumed by the guilt.

Bean said: “Getting to be involved in a Jimmy McGovern drama again is a real privilege and it will be great to be reunited with Stephen.

"Mark Hebden is another of Jimmy’s complex and superbly written characters and I am looking forward to bringing him to life on screen.”

Meanwhile, Eric Reid (Graham), an honest and hard-working prison guard, is struck with a moral dilemma after a dangerous inmate identifies a major weakness of his.

Both Mark and Eric, inmate and officer, will have to overcome their pasts and find ways to move forward with their lives.

Tom Sherry, Executive Producer and Head of BBC Studios Drama North and Scotland, added: “It’s a joy to be working with Jimmy again. He writes unforgettable characters who live on in your mind long after you have seen them.

“Time will show you a world within a world and leave you questioning, what would you do?”

Time begins filming in Liverpool in autumn 2020.