INSIDE job

JOSH FINAN on a thought-provoking story exploring prison life

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WAITING FOR THE OUT NEW SAT, 9.30PM, BBC1 DRAMA (BOX SET, BBC IPLAYER)

Countless films and TV series have explored the experiences of prison inmates behind bars. But new BBC1 drama Waiting for the Out, inspired by Andy West’s acclaimed 2022 memoir The Life Inside, also reflects on the challenges faced by family and friends in the outside world. Adapted for the screen by Utopia writer Dennis Kelly, the six-parter stars The Responder’s Josh Finan as Dan Stewer, a young academic whose home life has been blighted by crime, with his abusive father (Shameless actor Gerard Kearns), older brother Lee (The Bay’s Stephen Wight) and uncle Frank (ex-EastEnders star Phil Daniels) all serving time in jail. Finding himself at a crossroads, Dan decides to take a job teaching philosophy to prisoners, but he becomes increasingly worried whether he will end up on the inside, too. TV Times caught up with Josh to get his take on the series...