Nottinghamshire's Bella Ramsey to lead series two of popular BBC prison drama

Bella Ramsey, aged 19, is a former student from Nottingham city-based Television Workshop – an acting youth project for talent from across the county – which celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year.

Bella is one of the workshop’s rising stars, alongside other former students Vicky McClure, Jack O'Connell and Samantha Morton, who all attended the workshop before landing roles on the big and small screen.

Bella, who starred in HBO hit shows The Last Of Us and Game of Thrones, is “excited" to join Jodie Whittaker, Tamara Lawrance and Siobhan Finneran in Time’s three-part second series.

The first series of Jimmy McGovern's hard-hitting BBC prison show aired in 2021, starring Sean Bean and McClure’s This Is England co-star, Stephen Graham.

The series was a huge hit for the BBC, with an average of 11.6 million viewers across its three-part run.

Series two will explore life in a modern British women’s prison, with Ramsey playing the role of Kelsey, a young offender who arrives at Carlingford Prison.

Speaking about their role, Ramsey, who also starred in the 2017 TV adaptation of The Worst Witch, said they were excited to work with such an “incredible” team.

In an interview with the BBC, they said it was an “honour” to play Kelsey and “experience the world through her for a few months”.

Filming for the second series will take place in Liverpool in the coming months.