The start of Shane Meadows' visceral new drama The Virtues is like watching the unraveling of a man in real time, a voyeuristic intrusion into someone's catastrophic breakdown.
Stephen Graham gives an emotive performance as Joseph, a depressed man who turns to alcohol to swat away fractured memories of abuse from his past. Filmmaker Meadows began constructing the series 14 years ago, prompted by a childhood trauma that he was only recently able to fully acknowledge. That was partly why Graham wanted to get involved.
"I'd been involved with it for a while with Shane, we started talking about it when we were making This is England (in 2006)," the actor tells Esquire. "He wanted to do his own take on a Mary and Joseph scenario, and then later on down the line it developed into this idea of a man who is broken and trying to piece together his past."
Graham didn't need much convincing. "Number one, it intrigued me, and number two, I wanted to get involved when Shane said that it was loosely based on something that had happened to him."
Meadows recently disclosed how it wasn't until he was 40 that he was able to get to the root of the abuse he suffered as child. He ultimately tracked down the person responsible, but feared that a confrontation could end in violence. Instead, he called up his This is England co-writer Jack Thorne and they created The Virtues. It was a cathartic process which gave him "a chance to face somebody that wronged me".
Graham felt the responsibility of playing a character so closely linked with Meadows’ own experiences of trauma, telling us: "You have to handle it with tenderness and with care, and a duty of care that you have to apply to the subject that you're dealing with.
"People deal with these things regularly on a daily basis, and also with alcoholism, you have an obligation to play this as truthfully and honestly as possible."
The Taboo actor adds that the series couldn't be more timely, because it's only recently that society at large has been willing to listen and empathise with the stories of abuse survivors.
"People are ready to talk about it. We filmed this two years ago, so it's come about at the right time, where there's an opportunity for people to speak out. [While doing research for the show] I watched a documentary about a kids football team in Scotland and how the coach had abused the children. And I remember watching the men talk about it and thinking: 'Where's the emotion?'
"Some of them were so still about it, and so cold about it, and spoke about it so factually. It was so intriguing that there's so many different ways that people react. So it was: let's tap into Joseph and see what his reaction is to something that is horrific."
Meadows and Graham have become two of the most distinguished names in the industry over the last two decades. The latter has balanced roles in acclaimed British TV dramas with Hollywood blockbusters and hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Self-taught director Meadows is a cult favourite amongst independent film fans for his body of semi-autobiographical dramas including A Room for Romeo Brass, Dead Man's Shoes, and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands.
But it's arguably their work together in This is England, and the subsequent television spin-off, that has been their most powerful and career-defining. Graham's performance as reformed racist thug Combo in the compelling working-class saga earned him a BAFTA nomination when it ended on an emotional high in 2016.
The Virtues offers that same slice of realism with improvisational performances synonymous with Meadows' style. There's also the familiarly bittersweet humour, deeply human and empathetic characters, and magnetic and blistering scenes that remain with you long after they've ended.
This year has also seen Graham receive a BAFTA nomination for his heartbreaking performance in Lennie James' gritty Sky Originals drama Save Me (he'll start filming series 2 soon), and his indomitable debut as undercover copper John Corbett in series 5 of Jed Mercurio's Line of Duty.
"John was always getting killed in episode 4 - that's one of the reasons why I did it!" Graham confirmed to us.
"Which was brilliant. Working with Shane, a lot of the scenes are improvised, but Jed's very meticulous. There's a script and there's a structure to it and he builds that suspense and tension beautifully, and it's a different kind of skill."
Jed told him he wrote it with him in mind. "And then he said, 'oh, and you're going to die in episode 4', so I asked, 'what kind of death is he going to have?' and he said, 'I was thinking of slitting his throat'. I said, 'brilliant'."
He admitted that he was disappointed that he narrowly missed out on a trademark AC-12 interrogation scene, but he would have chosen his dramatic death over that any day.
"Of course everyone wants one of those scenes, but unfortunately it didn't happen," he sighs. "I had my choice, did I want one of them, or do I want a good slice of the throat?"
Graham couldn't divulge details on a project he's currently filming, but he did disclose that Tom Hanks fought studio bosses for his role in the upcoming war drama Greyhound, adapted from the C.S. Forester novel of the same title. Hanks wrote the screenplay and stars in the film.
"I don't see myself as a big name. It's an American role so I think they wanted an American actor to play it. But [Hanks] said: 'No, I want him'. So it was an honour. What a good film to do and what a wonderful man he is. He's charming – absolutely charming – and really lovely."
Much like Stephen Graham himself.
The Virtues airs on Channel 4 on Wednesday, 15 May.
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
