Sean Bean on Time, makeup and his trans role: ‘If I did it today, there’d be an uproar’

In Time, the actor known as Game of Thrones' Ned Stark had to show the terrors of prison ... mostly by sitting in silence. He talks religion, looking rough - and the role he played that would not be made now

Across three Sunday nights last summer, Sean Bean was remarkable. BBC One's Time saw him play a teacher jailed for killing someone while drunk-driving. With Jimmy McGovern's script often leaving him silent and alone in his cell, he painted an astonishingly affecting portrait of the regret and terror of a previously respected professional banged up with veteran criminals - and he frequently did so using expressions alone.

How is it to try to grab the audience entirely through looks? As you get older, it's sometimes a bit easier!" says Bean, 62, with a laugh. When I started out, I used to count up how many lines I had and want some more. Now, it's: Oh, fuck, do I have to remember all that?' So I don't mind silence."