Stephen Graham had a stellar 2025. He didn\u2019t just play Bruce Springsteen\u2019s father in biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere but, of course, co-created and starred in Netflix mega-hit Adolescence \u2013 the game-changing drama that sparked global debate about online misogyny, incel culture and the \u201cmanosphere\u201d.<\/p>\n
His friend and regular collaborator Steven Knight<\/a> watched admiringly from afar as the devastating four-parter became event TV. \u201cMy God, it was a cultural phenomenon,\u201d he says, puffing out his cheeks with pride. \u201cAdolescence<\/a> got people talking who don\u2019t normally talk, about things they don\u2019t normally talk about. Is there any finer achievement than having a direct, immediate and positive effect worldwide on human relationships? It\u2019s like putting something on screen which is medicine. It\u2019s actually good for you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaking an impact like that was beyond our wildest hopes,\u201d says Graham. \u201cHaving a fella come up in Tesco and say: \u2018I just want to thank you. I had a really good chat with my son the other night after we watched your programme.\u2019 No disrespect but you can keep your awards and all that shiny bollocks. That\u2019s the real accolade.\u201d<\/p>\n Beat surrender \u2026 Stephen Graham as Henry \u2018Sugar\u2019 in A Thousand Blows, season two. Photograph: Robert Viglasky\/Disney+<\/p>\n He has already won an Emmy<\/a> for Adolescence and was recently nominated for a Golden Globe but Graham retains a healthy scepticism about awards recognition. \u201cWhat we do isn\u2019t football,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not competitive sport. There aren\u2019t winners and losers. It\u2019s subjective. I might think something\u2019s a bag of shite and it gets five fucking Baftas. That\u2019s happened quite a few times, in fact. I might get myself into trouble here but Cillian Murphy, right? Wonderful actor. He\u2019s never won a Bafta for playing Tommy Shelby [in Peaky Blinders]! One of the finest performances I\u2019ve ever seen. What the fuck\u2019s that about? Things like Adolescence, which make an impression on the collective consciousness, come from nowhere. The fact that we got\u00a0it made is in itself a win.\u201d<\/p>\n I am sitting down with Stephen and Steven to discuss the pyrotechnic return of their pugilistic period thriller A Thousand Blows<\/a>. The debut run was a smash hit for Disney+ last year. Now comes the sequel, which interweaves the illegal bare-knuckle boxing scene with the fortunes of the Forty Elephants, an all-female crime syndicate who specialised in pickpocketing and confidence tricks.One year after the events of the first season, Jamaican boxer Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) is a shadow of his former fighting self. His deadly rival, Henry \u201cSugar\u201d Goodson (Graham), is in even worse shape \u2013 estranged from his family and drinking himself to death. As the series begins, he\u2019s straggly haired, bushy bearded and falling face down in puddles. He even has a\u00a0nasty case of trenchfoot.<\/p>\n \u201cI know, it\u2019s gross,\u201d says Graham. \u201cThose manky feet are a metaphor for the path Sugar has trodden in the time we\u2019ve been away. He\u2019s at his lowest point ever. Now he has to rebuild his sense of self.\u201d As we know from his virtuoso turn in Shane Meadows\u2019s The\u00a0Virtues<\/a>, for\u00a0a\u00a0teetotaller, Graham is uncannily good at playing drunk. \u201cI was the kind of kid who sat in working men\u2019s clubs, getting cans of Coke and bags of crisps bought for me. I saw a lot of great pissheads! I tap into that.\u201d<\/p>\n Hit-maker \u2026 the creator of the show, Steven Knight. Photograph: Robert Viglasky<\/p>\n Graham transformed his physique for the first series. With fewer fights this time, has his training slacked off? \u201cNo, I\u2019ve still got it going on,\u201d he says, pulling up his T-shirt to flex impressive biceps. \u201cLook at them! This season, the fight Sugar is having is mainly with himself. But I\u2019m still working out. I\u2019m filming something at the minute where I play a prisoner, so I\u2019ve adjusted the regime.\u201d He rubs his shaven head to illustrate the point. \u201cMore of a prison workout plan with a low-carb diet.\u201d<\/p>\n Season one climaxed with Sugar beating his younger brother, Edward \u201cTreacle\u201d Goodson (James Nelson-Joyce<\/a>) half to death. \u201cThese two boys went through hell growing up,\u201d says Graham. \u201cEverything Sugar did, he did for his brother. Now he\u2019s betrayed that, so he\u2019s questioning who he is as a human being.\u201d That\u2019s one beauty of basing his story on real historical figures, says Knight: \u201cThe truth gives our scripts authority. Records show that Sugar did badly beat his brother in a fight. All you need is that fact, then you\u2019ve got a ton of stuff before it and after it to imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n Nelson-Joyce has come a long way since that fateful meeting in Nando\u2019s a decade ago, when he approached Graham and was taken under his idol\u2019s wing. \u201cHe really has,\u201d says Graham. \u201cAfter I gave him my details, Hannah [Walters, his wife, co-star and co-producer] looked at me and went: \u2018I reckon he could play your brother one day.\u2019 And here we are. I\u2019m dead proud of the way James\u2019s career is progressing. He deserves every bit of his success.\u201d<\/p>\n The punchy series comes out swinging for round two. This time, the bone-crunching violence spills out of the boxing ring and on to the streets of the East End. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot more explosions and those are always exciting days to be on set,\u201d grins Graham. \u201cAll these mad fellas and women come in and go: \u2018Right, let\u2019s blow something up over here.\u2019 So they do it, then they always say: \u2018We need bigger bangs and bigger flames. Let\u2019s turn up the gas!\u2019 It\u2019s huge fun and when you see it on-screen, you go: \u2018Wow.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rivals \u2026 Graham with Malachi Kirby as Hezekiah Moscow in A Thousand Blows. Photograph: Robert Viglasky<\/p>\n \u201cAction scenes are great as long as nothing hits you,\u201d says Knight. \u201cBecause it does happen. Scripting a fight feels ludicrous: \u2018He swings a punch, he ducks, he swings again.\u2019 But I genuinely think our show has the most authentic boxing sequences I\u2019ve ever seen. The punches feel real.\u201d He pauses. \u201cMentioning no names, but we\u2019ve all seen how easy it is to do them badly.\u201d<\/p>\n Just as Wapping\u2019s underworld is lacking leadership, Mary Carr (Erin Doherty<\/a>), self-styled queen of the Forty Elephants, bursts back on the scene to reform her gang and reclaim her crown. As always, canny and charismatic Mary has a plan. This time, it\u2019s riskier than ever. \u201cErin is unbelievable,\u201d says Knight. \u201cYou can\u2019t imagine anyone else playing Mary Carr. Somehow she just becomes her. I\u2019m sure it isn\u2019t effortless but Erin make it look like it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe only word I can use for Erin is mesmeric,\u201d says Graham. \u201cI could watch her reading the phone book. Mary looks after Sugar while he\u2019s in recovery. We shot a whole day\u2019s footage of her helping me through detox and there were scenes as an actor I\u2019ll never forget. At one point, we sat on the floor of a bedroom above a pub and she just held me. It was a very vulnerable situation but the crew were so respectful, allowing us to stay in the moment. It was special. Something I\u2019ll cherish deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n The Forty Elephants reflect the changing world of the late Victorian era. \u201cIt\u2019s the truth. Real social history<\/a>, rather than the stuff you read in textbooks. They ran their own organisation and were incredibly successful. Newspapers of the time were outraged and said: \u2018How shocking that ladies are doing this,\u2019 but nobody on the streets was surprised. Most working-class families are run by the mother. The only place equality wasn\u2019t acknowledged was in the political system. In their own way, the Forty Elephants are like the suffragettes, looking around and saying: \u2018Wait a minute, this is ridiculous.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018The only word I can use for Erin is mesmeric\u2019 \u2026 Erin Doherty as Mary in A Thousand Blows, season two. Photograph: Robert Viglasky\/Disney+<\/p>\n The two Steves are regular partners in crime, having worked together on Peaky Blinders<\/a>, Taboo<\/a> and A Christmas Carol<\/a>. What do they admire about each other\u2019s work? Graham goes first: \u201cGrowing up, I loved writers who told working-class stories, like Alan Bleasdale, Jimmy McGovern and Willy Russell. They\u2019re one of the reasons I\u2019m an actor today. Steve has that quality, too. You can imagine him writing Educating Rita<\/a>. He creates these magical worlds with humour, heart and human struggle. To be in his thought process when he writes is an honour. It\u2019s the food that gives me life.\u201d \u201cThe motivation for me is that he\u2019s just so good,\u201d says Knight. \u201cIf it\u2019s possible to get Stephen into something, then I will, because I know he\u2019s going to be fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n Next up for the pair is the long-awaited Peaky Blinders film, The Immortal Man<\/a>, which dons its razor-sharp cap and swaggers on to screens in March. \u201cI\u2019m not allowed to talk about it but it\u2019s fucking brilliant,\u201d Knight says proudly. \u201cI\u2019m so excited that it\u2019s coming soon.\u201d Graham reprises his role from the TV series as Liverpool dockyard union leader Hayden Stagg. \u201cIt\u00a0was a total riot to make,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t normally get to do the kind of things I do in this film, so I had a lot of fun.\u201d What kind of things? \u201cI\u00a0can\u2019t say, can I? You won\u2019t catch me out!\u201d<\/p>\n