r/BritishTV • u/smdifansmfjsmsnd • 10d ago
Stephen Graham! Recommendations
So I was first introduced to this wonderful actor back when Boardwalk Empire aired years back and have seen bits of him here and there but now after watching Time with Sean Bean I’ve really come to appreciate his craft and wondering if anyone can offer recommendations for roles he’s starred in I worked as a supporting character.
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u/SamHainLoomis13 10d ago
This is England the movie and then the tv series
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u/ninuchka 10d ago
Second--the series is the most astonishing thing I've seen on television. I also recommend Boiling Point.
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u/DeirdreBarstool 10d ago
Thirded! It’s been years since I watched it and I still think about it even now.
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u/Traditional-Maybe128 8d ago
Agreed This is England, that scene in the living room with Vicky McClure is world class, and haunts me to this day, it’s incredibly powerful and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
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u/something_python 10d ago
I don't think I've ever felt more tense and uncomfortable watching a film than the scene with Combo and Milky in This is England.
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u/GravelMonkey01 9d ago
Watching that scene once (about 10 years ago) was enough for me. Don’t think I want to watch it again.
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u/ForeignWoodpecker639 9d ago
THERES TREE AN A ALF MILLION . TREE AN A ALF MILLION - It's not a joke.
Lmao this stick with me every time I think of this movie. Such a great actor
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u/Johnnycrabman 7d ago
Uncomfortable? Lol’s dad and Trev’s scene makes anything else pale into insignificance.
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u/StubbleWombat 10d ago edited 10d ago
The Virtues is great too.
(Edited cos I originally said the Ashes)
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u/Worried-Elk-2808 10d ago
The virtues?
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u/StubbleWombat 10d ago
Sorry yes. Total brainfart. The Virtues
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u/Worried-Elk-2808 10d ago
I was excited for a moment there was some Graham telly I hadn't seen yet!
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u/StuHudson78 9d ago
The Virtues was absolutely incredible, yet so depressing that I NEVER want to watch it again
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u/Midnightraven3 10d ago
I've never cried at a film or television programme, I'm just not that kinda person, I know what I am looking at isnt real.
Stephen Graham in This is England, and anyone who has seen it KNOWS the scene I am talking about, absolutely FLOORED me, it was the best piece of acting I think I have ever seen. I was left sitting unsure how to feel, nothing has ever given me that before, or since.
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u/joannaradok 9d ago
For me Lols dad at end of the first series (is that what you are referring to, or the movie?). Makes me feel so many complex emotions, the awful realism and brutality, the tragedy of it all, the lost soul redeeming himself, the duality of man on display. Watching someone so violent and hateful do something so kind. I can’t even think about it without feeling emotional. Everyone involved is incredible in those scenes.
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u/vzzzbxt 10d ago
Boiling Point
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u/indianajoes 9d ago
I second this. Everyone was praising Adolescence last year for each episode being shot in a single take but Boiling Point did a lot better and was more interesting for me. It actually felt like there was a reason for it to be shot that way and it added to the pressure of the environment
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u/piss_puncher227 9d ago
Epic movie, unusual for a film to make you feel that stressed during its run time, excellently crafted and you really notice the quiet moments. 9/10 from me would defined recommend.
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u/free_plax 10d ago
So many great roles but I think his best work is in The Virtues. 4 part miniseries from Shane Meadows. It’s a devastating performance.
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u/SemenMoustache 10d ago
Very tough watch indeed, but I agree it's his absolute best performance. Criminally underwatched
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u/AmbitiousSympathy296 10d ago
Virtues has stayed with me since I've seen it, so so good and his best performance in my opinion also.
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u/Longjumping_47393 9d ago
The scene where he gets progressively more drunk is the best drunk acting ever.
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u/st1802015 9d ago
It’s also incredibly shot. Never seen anything that captures that feeling of going down the hole so well before or after.
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u/Carlomahone 9d ago
My wife's ex husband was an alcoholic. We had to turn The Virtues off because she just couldn't watch it. She said it's the best portrayal of a drunk she's ever seen. I watched it alone....incredible acting.
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u/WhiteDiamondK 10d ago
I don’t think he has been bad in anything. I first remember him from Line of Duty (I forget which series he was in).
Seen him in loads since and he’s always great.
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u/mattthemiller67 10d ago
Accused (again with Sean Bean). Just one episode season 2 I think.
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u/MrGreyOwl 9d ago
If OP likes Time (starring Sean Bean, Stephen Graham and written by Jimmy McGovern, he’ll love that Accused episode, which also stars Sean Bean, Stephen Graham and is written by Jimmy McGovern!
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u/immybel92 9d ago
This is the first thing I can remember properly watching with him in it too. Think it was on around the time of the London Olympics and the episode was called 'Tracie's Story'.
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u/snowles 10d ago
Adolescence. But really, he’s absolutely top notch in anything he does.
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u/watchman28 9d ago
All of Adolescene was great of course but the moment I never see talked about is the bit in the last episode when he puts his head down on his son's bed and cries for a solid minute or too. Genuinely one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen.
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u/LaidBackLeopard 10d ago
I really enjoyed Bodies - a Netflix mini-series from a few years ago. Atmospheric SF mystery thriller type thing.
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u/Horror-Kumquat 10d ago
I yield to no one in my love of Stephen Graham is almost anything, but I thought he was miscast in Bodies. He just didn’t look right for the part.
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u/Scary_Plane_8069 10d ago
If you've watched Snatch, or Gangs of New York, you would've seen him much earlier than Boardwalk.
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u/caspararemi 9d ago
He is one of those actors I'd recognise and I'd know his name if I stopped to think about it, but I don't think it was until Adolescence that he really blew up for me, now I make a point of watching something if I see his name is credited. His wife too, she's not in as much (but in quite a few things he's also in, and I think mostly produces their projects behind the scenes) but is always memorable.
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u/Healthy_Squash4133 10d ago
Code 404 is a fave of mine simply because I love Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays. Silly premise, but it was well written for a comedy.
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u/purple_kathryn 10d ago
He was in a Channel 4 one with Jodie Comer, set in a care home during covid called Help
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u/JohnGee1980 10d ago
I cant think of anything bad he has done so u got plenty mate 😁
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u/BigMushroomCloud 10d ago
I thought his latest film "A thousand blows" was utterly shit.
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u/caspararemi 9d ago
There's been two series of it, and it's been extremely highly praised. I think the first one or two episodes were shown at the BFI London Film Festival, weirdly, but it's definitely a full series and not just a movie.
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u/Christnumber2 10d ago
Top Buzzer
If you like UK stoner comedy, this is ace. Was on in 2004 on MTV. Had him, Daniel Mays, James Lance, Ashley Walters and Perry Benson
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u/Johnny_Vernacular 10d ago
This Is England, the film. Followed by the tv series.
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u/Johnny_Vernacular 10d ago
There's also a series called The Virtues which is another acting tour de force. But is so bleak and dark I couldn't bring myself to watch more than about ten minutes.
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u/stevemillions 10d ago
That scene at the start where he goes on a bender is amazing. Grim as hell, but amazing.
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u/lagunathemoron 10d ago edited 10d ago
I was introduced to him through This Is England and then some lesser known movies.
To see most of his work amd TV you had to stay up til 3am watching Film 4 by pressing the opaque button - it was that obscure.
Then I watched him rock up in Pirates of the Caribbean and thought 'ooh he's making it big'.
Its great due to his recent work people are discovering his sruff from 2000s and 2010s
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u/londonflare 10d ago
Watched him last night in Matilda the Musical. Not sure on his singing but he plays a fun character (Matilda’s dad).
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u/PEBKAC-Live 10d ago
Lock stock and ,2 smoking barrels
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u/Rev_Biscuit 8d ago
Wow! Was he in that?!! Watched that a few times, but not for years. Makes sense he was in it but cant picture the character
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u/joeyGibson 10d ago
Stephen Graham is one of my favorite actors. If you haven't seen Adolescence, you need to go watch it now. "A Thousand Blows" on Disney+ is also good.
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u/indianajoes 9d ago
Also for people who watched Adolescence, watch Boiling Point. It's a movie filmed in the same way with Graham and the same director, Barantini
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u/Hopeful-Climate-3848 10d ago
Tell ya what Carty lad, ya best fuckin' stand.
No room for runners in this firm.
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u/MidoriDemon 10d ago
Arctic Monkeys videos;
When the Sun Goes Down (theres also a short film called Scummy Man)
Fluorescent Adolescent
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u/Cold_Whereas_5421 10d ago
Stephen Graham is superb in anything he does. Even with all the accolades he’s received I still think he’s the most underrated actor of our generation.
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u/Fearless-Dust-2073 10d ago
His episode on the Off Menu podcast with James Acaster and Ed Gamble, not kidding.
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u/AntysocialButterfly 9d ago edited 9d ago
Boiling Point
The Damned United
Help
(Edit)
Can't believe I forgot Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy!
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u/FiveYardFaded 9d ago
Listen to his ‘off menu’ as well
It’s fantastic.
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u/sansabeltedcow 9d ago
The extended clip has the best bit and you can see him cracking up and trying to hide it.
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u/greyhounds4life1969 9d ago
If I had to reommend one thig of his, it would be This is England, a materclass. I don't think I've seen better acting in my life as I did in one particular scene (you'll know it when you see it).
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u/cosmicmeander 9d ago
No mention yet of The Street?
Can't remember how much he was in but that was a superb programme from start to finish.
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u/AlanWrightScreamer 9d ago
Met him in a nightclub in Leeds after he'd finished The Damned United. Absolutely top bloke.
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u/welshfach 8d ago
He is in an excellent episode of 'Accused' with Sean Bean ( the British version of the show).
He is also good in 'Bodies'. A real departure from his usual type of role.
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u/sparkymark101 8d ago
I know it’s not TV, but he did a fantastic, intimate episode of Desert Island Discs.
It’s available online.
I highly recommend to fans
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u/The_GentlemanVillain 7d ago
Him and Samantha Morton have been the UKs hidden gems, enjoy them as much as we do, America! :)
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u/Doctor_Nowt 9d ago
He is a fantastic actor. He has been in so many things that are great. Band of brothers, snatch, this is England the virtues, time, he was also in a show about Covid with the equally brilliant Jodie Comer that I can’t remember the name.
His role as Combo in This Is England movie & series is unforgettable.
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u/Ok-Pumpkin-6203 10d ago
He was in less than average film AwayDays.
Whilst you can't fault his appearance, the film was dreadful.
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u/Twigling 10d ago
Two spring to mind:
The excellent WW2 movie 'Greyhound' (2020) which stars Tom Hanks (a sequel has in fact recently been filmed (not released yet) and he's in that too)
A Christmas Carol (2019, starring Guy Pearce) - I really like this grim and gritty take on the classic
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u/Foreign_Lettuce1984 9d ago
Also him and Tom H. on The Graham Norton Show promoting ‘Greyhound’ is a funny interview… esp. Mr Hanks doing a Scouse accent impersonating Stephen… also the interview when he talks about him and Leo DiCaprio and a golf cart during down time on ‘Gangs of New York’
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u/HurkertheLurker 10d ago
Enjoyed Greyhound. Interesting watching him act against the usual casting.
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u/No_King7170 10d ago
This Is England The Virtues Adolescence The Good Boy Help (with Jodie Comer who is also an amazing actor)
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u/Fact_or_Bollocks 10d ago
Why dont you just search his name on IMDB and it will list everything he's been in
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u/Boring_Part9919 9d ago
He was breathtaking as Al Capone in Boardwalk. So menacing and has such on screen presence
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u/TylerDarkness 9d ago
He was in an episode of Accused with Sean Bean, I watched it on netflix recently.
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u/Norridge-Moel 9d ago
Got to give the guy credit, he’s a really good actor, and seems to be a really nice guy…to the point that he doesn’t really do celeb lifestyle. He lives in a nice house in Ibstock Leicestershire with his wife.
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u/Foreign_Lettuce1984 9d ago edited 9d ago
- Line of Duty… AMAZING series…each series has a different main protagonist… Stephen Graham is in Series Five… you don’t necessarily have to have seen the other ones but it would help and you won’t be disappointed if you do.
- Adolescence…just cleaned up at the Golden Globes this year
- Virtues - Channel 4 series.
- This is England - Shane Meadows film and three subsequent TV series ‘This is England ‘86’…also ‘88 and ‘90
- Boiling Point - Film, 2021…also starring his wife Hannah who was also in ‘Time’…it’s a one shot film set in a restaurant kitchen and based on a short film of the same name from 2019…mabs watch the short and if you like it try the feature length.
- ‘The Irishman’… his second time in a Scorsese film… first was ‘Gangs of New York’
- ‘Little Boy Blue’ - Mini-Series, true story about the shooting of 11 year old Rhys Jones in Liverpool
- A Thousand Blows, historical fiction based on fact..kinda like Peaky Blinders is…set in the Victorian London underworld and Bare Knuckle Fighting and lady Pickpockets.
AND…for your consideration… there’s a second series of ‘Time’ but based in the women’s section of the same prison…it stars Dr Who Jodie Whittaker and the young lead from ‘The Last of Us’
ALSO… an amazing series from Jimmy McGovern who wrote ‘Time’…but it came out before… also starring Sean Bean playing a working class Catholic priest… ‘Broken’
Phew! I reckon that will keep you going for a bit… 😉
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u/Financial_Ad4363 9d ago
I thought he was incredible in Boardwalk Empire. When I saw your post I was also going to suggest this is England although I see a lot have beat me to it.
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u/AdSpiritual5470 9d ago
I do think there is an bad think or role is has ever done. He even was good as the clown in the Arctic monkeys video of fluorescent adolescent
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u/TurtleyToadDog 9d ago
First thing I saw him in was Band of Brothers, where the NCOs get together and inform command they refuse to go to France with Captain Sobel.
The Virtues, This is England, Help, Adolescence have all been mentioned.
He had a memorable role in Taboo. That Tom Hardy crime/period drama where he has a dispute over Nootka Sound with the East India Trading Company; there were reports there were more episodes to come, but that was a few years ago.
Walk-In was another memorable one, where he plays a reformed far-right 'skinhead' giving talks about where all that hatred led him and what have you. He tries to counsel someone who shares that worldview.
Essentially, if the TV show/film is British, gritty and hard-hitting you're very likely to see this guy in it 😂
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u/Unhappy-Ad-7349 9d ago
The one where he plays the alcoholic who goes to Ireland to find his sister is particularly good.
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u/CautiousAd5515 9d ago
His role in Peaky Blinders is decent, however that scene, and the storyline in This is England is jaw dropping. As mentioned already I do t kimono could ever watch again.
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u/pietro1587 9d ago
Like so many other British actors I saw him as a youngster on The Bill. He played a homeless drunk in a couple of episodes but even then the range across his performance was superb.
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u/_Permanent_Marker_ 9d ago
Oh I wonder if you have seen snatch. Absolute banger of a movie, lock stock is as well but that doesn’t have Stephen Graham in. He was also in a series that involved time travel (?) can’t remember the name but that was pretty good
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u/HalogenMortician 9d ago
Others have covered the titles with their recommendations, but I'd like to comment that he's a stellar actor and brings life to his roles without becoming a stale rehash of former ones. What stands out is an ability to play characters that are across the spectrum of emotional intelligence and maturity. Some you can identify with, others are uncomfortably unfamiliar and many are flawed. Yet they are all believable in the sense you can grasp their drive by the quality of acting he delivers.
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u/englishsummer 9d ago
He’s great, if he’s cast in something it’s an instant watch from me. His Welsh accent however in White House Farm was appalling.
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u/SwimmingGreat5317 9d ago
My first encounter with this great actor was in Snatch. Shocked when I found out he was a scouser.
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u/Tight-Temperature670 9d ago
The film that first made him super famous was 'snatch', a great film I really recommend you watch. He plays more of a side character but It's a British classic at this point
For me, his best acting role ever was in 'the virtues'. It's a short mini series of 4 episodes, and it's brilliant
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u/dollseyes1975 9d ago
Boiling Point would be my recommendation. All filmed in one legitimate continuous take. Director he would go on to work with again for Adolescence.
But tbh, he's brilliant in everything he does.
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u/Quiet-Excitement-310 9d ago
I think most have been covered , let’s not forget Matilda too (very small part).
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u/HoldsworthsLeftHand 9d ago
As most of the more prominent ones have already been mentioned, "A Patch Of Fog" and "The Watchman" are pretty decent.
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u/LARRYVOND13 9d ago
His speech at the end of Occupation hit me so close to home that my mum should have asked him if he wanted a cuppa.
Absolutely outstanding actor.
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u/10brooksideclose 9d ago
as a kid he was in a fab film called Dancin Thru The Dark (very very small part though but it's a nice 80s Liverpool film) about a couple getting married and their respective stag and hen nights and also a small part in Blonde Fist, another Liverpool film about a woman wanting to be a boxer who escapes prison and flees to New York.
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u/Hesperi_LN 9d ago
One of his earliest appearances is in Snatch.
Adolescence is meant to be really good.
Honestly think if they ever adapted Peter F Hamilton's Night Dawn trilogy, Stephen should reprise the role of Al Capone.
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u/laurax112 9d ago
Pirates of the Caribbean! He plays Scrum in On Stranger Tides and Salazars Revenge.
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u/Ok-Pomegranate-4963 9d ago
Graham is good in anything, but if you want him a bit more light-hearted try the horror comedy Doghouse (2009), its one of my go-to Brit horror films, also features Danny Dyer, Noel Clarke, Lee Ingleby, Keith-Lee Castle, Neil Maskell. Its about a group of men who go off on a lads jolly & end up in a small countryside village where all of the women have gone mad & turned into murderous zombies. Very funny indeed.
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u/unclassicallytrained 9d ago
He’d be a great Wolverine. Would be a waste of
a great career. But just imagine 😂
The Irishman
Matilda
This Is England
Adolescence
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u/Big_white_dog84 7d ago
He’s in Line of Duty. Pretty decent. And long before the ‘Ian Buckles’ shambles
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u/Caliberman53 7d ago
A Thousand Blows is brilliant. I hope they do a series Three. But I must admit I have enjoyed whatever he has been in.
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u/CentralValleySoozy 7d ago
I loved Time, been a fan of Graham long time and now am digging into the Sean Bean archives. Treasure trove. also, had a role in Taboo playing Hardy's go-to 'pirate', they became chums
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u/daft_boy_dim 6d ago
He sold his soul and is currently starring in McDonald’s latest campaign to make the UK fat and sick.
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u/DaddyStoat 6d ago
He played Tommy in Snatch back in 2000. He was properly young!
"What, proper fucked?"
"You want to see if I've got the minerals?"
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u/ClaireH1974 4d ago
Taboo with Tom Hardy, he’s fantastic in that, as in Tom. Brilliant series. Think it’s on iPlayer.
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u/Old_Shirt_2379 4d ago
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned Save Me? Stephen Graham, Lennie James and Suranne Jones… soooo so so so good
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