Sean Bean forced to pause filming BBC drama Time due to Covid scare

Sean Bean was forced to temporarily halt filming on his new BBC drama Time due to a Covid-19 scare.

In Time, which is due to launch later this week, Game of Thrones star Sean, 62, plays a teacher called Mark Cobden, who is sent to prison after accidentally killing a man, while Stephen Graham, 47, portrays caring prison officer Eric McNally.

The three-part series was directed by Lewis Arnold, who revealed that at one point while filming during the pandemic, several of the actors in the production had to take a break from filming as a result of a coronavirus ‘incident’.

‘We were filming in Liverpool during the height of the pandemic, we had to change the plan every day,’ said Lewis, who has also worked on shows including Broadchurch and Misfits.

‘We lost Sean Bean for 10 days and all of our main core cast because we had an incident with Covid.’

However, Lewis added that the cast was ‘all fine’ in the end.

The director explained that the cast and crew had to remain flexible while filming during the Covid-19 outbreak, as their work environment was changing constantly.

‘Everything changed on a day-to-day basis,’ he said. ‘And the cast and the crew were so accommodating and understanding, and the work never really suffered, they found ways.’

With filming taking place in Liverpool and at a prison in Shrewsbury, Lewis said that the police drama’s producing team ‘really struggled and still managed to hopefully create a drama where I hope you don’t feel it’s been filmed during the pandemic, with social distancing in place and all those kinds of things’.

When Sean’s character, Mark, is sent to prison, he must quickly adapt to his new surroundings while coping with being separated from his loved ones.

Stephen’s character Eric, on the other hand, has to grapple with threatening inmates within the prison while trying to maintain his integrity.

In addition to Sean and Stephen, Time also stars Siobhan Finneran, Nadine Marshall, Sue Johnston, Hannah Walters and David Calder.

Sean and Stephen previously worked together on BBC anthology series Accused, starring alongside one another in the first episode of series two.

Previously speaking about Time, Sean said it was ‘great to be reunited with Stephen’ and ‘a real privilege’ to be a part of the drama written by Jimmy McGovern.

‘Mark Cobden is another of Jimmy’s complex and superbly written characters and I am looking forward to bringing him to life on screen,’ he said.

Time will premiere on BBC One on Sunday June 6 at 9pm and will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

For more stories like this, check our entertainment page.

Follow Metro.co.uk Entertainment on Twitter and Facebook for the latest celeb and entertainment updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.

MORE : Sean Bean still doesn’t have a clue how Game Of Thrones ended

MORE : BBC have cancelled Holby City ‘to create new soap to rival Coronation Street’