David Tennant Undertakes One Of His Harshest Roles Yet In BBC's Hit Crime Series

Published Oct 3, 2026, 11:53 PM EDT Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025. Sign in to your ScreenRant account David Tennant is no Doctor Who in the BBC's returning crime series. While he's best known for playing the Doctor, Tennant has portrayed ruthless villains before, including Kilgrave in Marvel's Jessica Jones and Barty Crouch Jr. in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The fan-favorite actor has also played characters who are not antagonists, but who come across as harsh on the surface, such as DI Alec Hardy in Broadchurch, the critically acclaimed crime show that ran for three seasons. The BBC has now released a new trailer for season 3 of Time, the hit anthology crime series which features Tennant making his series debut as a young offender institution's Custodial Manager Bobby Bailey. The footage shows Bailey overseeing young men beginning their prison sentences, followed by how they and their families struggle with these circumstances. Meanwhile, Tennant's character is grappling with the truth about a tragic incident in the prison and clashes with Prison Chaplain Marie-Louise O'Dell (Siobhan Finnernan). Check out the trailer below: With a 96% critics' score and 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes, Time has been very well-received since it first debuted in 2021. Each season focuses on a different story involving inmates and the prison staff surrounding them. Season 1 is centered on prisoner and former teacher Sean Cobden (Sean Bean) and prison officer Eric McNally (Stephen Graham) while season 2 is set in a women's prison and stars Jodie Whittaker, Bella Ramsey, and Tamara Lawrence. Following in the footsteps of Whittaker, Tennant is the second Doctor Who to join the series. In the role of Siobhan, Finnernan is the only actor to appear in all the show's seasons, which will continue in season 3. The new season also features Daniel Ryan as Custodial Manager Freddie Jennings, and Louis McCartney, Ollie McNulty and Chukwubuikem Molokwu as the teenage offenders James, Peter, and Christopher. While Bailey doesn't appear to be a cutthroat villain like Kilgrave or Barty Crouch Jr., being a correctional officer of a prison facility for young men is still a more harsh character for Tennant to play given the lengths taken to maintain order and while concealing key information. Bailey's moral conflict will be at the heart of season 3, as will the harsh realities of what the prison system does to young men. Time has previously won numerous BAFTA Awards, including Best Mini-Series and Bean for Best Actor, while Graham received a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Season 3 will feature three episodes, just as previous seasons have, with the first installment debuting on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on October 11, followed by episode 2 on October 12, and episode 3 on October 18. Release Date 2021 - 2025-00-00 Cast Siobhan Finneran Marie-Louise O'Dell Jodie Whitaker Orla O'Riordan Creator(s) Jimmy McGovern