The storytelling follows traditional social-realist lines established in Season 1, emphasizing personal guilt, redemption, and the failures of the justice system through specific plot points like Orla's custody fears, Kelsey's birth and drug-related vulnerability, and Abi's gradual acceptance by cellmates despite her crime. Casting includes one Black lead (Lawrance as Abi) and non-binary actor Bella Ramsey in the female role of Kelsey, but these choices align with a modern UK prison setting and do not involve race- or gender-swapping of established characters. Co-writer Helen Black was brought on specifically because "women's bodies are more central," highlighting childbirth, separation from children, and pressures on mothers, yet the narrative remains character-focused rather than activist-framed.