The Netflix miniseries follows a 13-year-old accused of murdering a girl from his school. Co-creator and star Stephen Graham says he read about similar crimes and wanted to know: "Why is this happening?" Graham spoke with Sam Briger about the crime that inspired the show, fatherhood, and the unusual way the show was shot — in one single take. Graham also stars as a bare-knuckle boxer in the period drama series A Thousand Blows. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get special behind-the-scenes content, producer recommendations, and gems from the archive. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Our guest, British actor Stephen Graham, stars in not one, but two new shows, Hulu's A Thousand Blows and the Netflix miniseries Adolescence. He spoke with Fresh Air producer Sam Brigger. Here's Sam.
In the historical drama A Thousand Blows, Stephen Graham plays a bare-knuckle boxer in Victorian London, prone to rage and more likely to beat you up than have a conversation with you. The show was created by Stephen Knight, who also created Peaky Blinders, something you may have caught Stephen Graham in in its final season, playing the character of Union Man Hayden Stagg.
The other show that Stephen Graham is in is Adolescence, one he co-created. It's a four-part miniseries following what happens to a family when their 13-year-old son is arrested for murdering a girl from his school. It's a devastating show, very difficult to watch, and very difficult to stop watching. Graham plays the father, Eddie, trying his best to be a good parent, but maybe not doing enough.
Adolescence as a show is not interested so much in who is guilty, but why do these kinds of things happen? Is it the family's fault? Is it bullying? Is it part of a kind of toxic masculinity young boys can find on social media while they're sitting alone, supposedly safe, in their own bedrooms? The show is remarkable in many ways, but one of them is technical. Each episode is a one-take.
There are no edits. The camera is turned on at the beginning of the episode and turned off at the end. They're like plays but moving throughout different locations and scenes. It adds an urgency to the drama. You may have first seen Stephen Graham in the Guy Ritchie movie Snatch, playing the role of Tommy, Jason Statham's sidekick.
His breakout role was playing Combo, a white nationalist skinhead in This Is England. He's been in lots of other movies and TV shows, but some recent memorable ones were his portrayal of Al Capone in Broadway Empire and as a mafia and union head in Martin Scorsese's movie The Irishman, where he steals some scenes from no less an actor than Al Pacino himself.
Before we start talking, let's hear a scene from Adolescence. This is from the first episode, where the police have raided the family's home, arrested the son Jamie, and taken him to the police station. Here's Stephen Graham, who is in shock, is asking Jamie's court-appointed lawyer, played by Mark Stanley, what he can do in this moment of crisis. Excuse me, mate.
No.
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