Stephen Graham is a national treasure for a reason: his unfaltering ability to take on a variety of different roles that span borders, timezones and history. If you’ve already worked your way through the likes of Adolescence, Little Boy Blue and Peaky Blinders and are on the hunt for some more incredible drama, we’ve delved into his back catalogue to uncover a selection we believe to be the pinnacle of British drama.
From Stephen’s tear-jerking portrayal of an Irishman who has to confront his troubling childhood in The Virtues to his hilarious take on a detective resurrected through AI in Code 404 and the gruff Artful Dodger-style gangster in Taboo, we have some seriously unmissable performances on the agenda. So, remotes at the ready, these are the 7 brilliant Stephen Graham shows to watch now on ITV, BBC, Netflix and more.
The Virtues
Channel 4
In Channel 4’s The Virtues we meet Joseph (Stephen Graham), a man who’s on the edge. After two years of sobriety, he decides to press the self-destruct button and turn back to the bottle when his ex-partner emigrates from Liverpool to Australia with their nine-year-old son. Waking up with the hangover from hell, he boards a boat to Ireland to confront painful and long-repressed memories of his upbringing in care. The four episodes are co-written by Adolescence’s creator, Jack Thorne – and it’s every bit as moving. Available to watch now on Channel 4.
Bodies
Netflix
Netflix’s Bodies, which debuted in 2023, introduces us to a shadowy political figure, Elias Mannix (Stephen Graham). This mystery thriller transports us to London’s East End and follows four detectives across different eras – 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053. The twist is they’re all investigating the same body. They find that Elias is at the centre of all the cases, but how will they work to uncover the century-spanning conspiracy? Available to watch now on Netflix.
The Secret Agent
BBC/World Productions
If you’re after another series steeped in history, The Secret Agent is a thrilling spy drama set in 1886 in London’s Soho. The 2016 BBC series is an adaptation of a Joseph Conrad thriller, in which Verloc (Toby Jones) runs a seedy sex shop and is hiding a secret from his wife, Winnie (Vicky McClure): that he’s plotting with the Russian embassy to spy on an anarchist cell and orchestrate a bombing. But will Chief Inspector Heat (Stephen Graham) of Scotland Yard’s Special Crimes Division put a stop to it? Available to watch now on Netflix.
White House Farm 
ITV
In the six-part White House Farm, a dramatisation of a real-life murder case, Stephen plays detective again. This time he’s DCI Thomas ‘Taff’ Jones, the senior investigator in the murder of five family members at an Essex farmhouse in 1985. The police force initially believes Sheila (Cressida Bonas) has killed her family members before turning the gun on herself – but evidence soon implicates another family member… Available to watch now on ITVX.
Code 404
Photographer – Andrea Southam
What happens when a detective is killed on the job in the future? Well, they’re brought back to life through the power of AI, of course. Sky’s hilarious comedy Code 404 follows DI Roy Carver (Stephen Graham), who’s brought back from the dead through a new specialist policing scheme – but things are somewhat awry with his new robo self, not to mention his personal relationships. In his absence, his long-standing police partner, DI John Major (Daniel Mays), has been having an affair with Carver’s wife, Kelly (Anna Maxwell Martin). Still, the duo have lives to save and killers to catch. Available to watch now on Sky, NOW and Prime Video.
Taboo
BBC
Peaky Blinders stars Stephen Graham and Tom Hardy reunite in Taboo, a gritty period drama set in 1912 London. Businessman James Delaney (Tom Hardy) returns to the UK after 12 years in Africa following the death of his father – and he’s on the hunt for revenge. Stephen stars as an Artful Dodger-style character called Atticus, who works as an informant to James and is battling the powerful East India Company for control of his family’s business, while dark secrets of his own come to the surface. Available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
The Walk-In
ITV
First airing on ITV in 2022 and based on real-life events, The Walk-In takes us to the forefront of a dangerous far-right organisation. Reformed neo-Nazi Matthew Collins (Stephen Graham) recruits an inside man to infiltrate terrorist group National Action, which is plotting a deadly attack against a Labour MP. But will his flighty and nervous informant, Robbie Mullen (Andrew Ellis), keep his end of the bargain? Available to watch now on Netflix.