3 hours Ago By [email protected] (Ryan Paton)
The acclaimed actor has returned to screens in hard-hitting Netflix drama Adolescence Stephen Graham has returned to our screens today in new Netflix show, Adolescence. The four-part series interrogates the harrowing question of "what would you do if your teenage son was accused of murder?" The Kirkby actor plays Eddie Miller, whose life is turned upside down when his 13-year-old-son Jamie is arrested on suspicion of murder. The 51-year-old has co-written the programme with Jack Thorne and the story was inspired by tragic real life events including the 2021 murder of 12-year-old Ava White in Liverpool city centre .
He told the Radio Times in an interview : "Where it came from, for me. Is there was an incident in Liverpool, a young girl, and she was stabbed to death by a young boy. I just thought, why? Then there was another young girl in south London who was stabbed to death at a bus stop.
"And there was this thing up North, where that young girl Brianna Ghey was lured into the park by two teenagers, and they stabbed her. I just thought, what’s going on? What is this that’s happening?" Every episode of the four part show has landed on Netflix today and Stephen has earned rave reviews for the unflinching way he has tackled such a difficult subject. The Telegraph gave it a five-star review and said: "It is a drama so quietly devastating that I won’t forget it for a very long time.
" The Guardian gave a similar verdict, with five stars and a glowing description as "the closest thing to TV perfection in decades." The programme's success continues Stephen's incredible start to the year. The actor won similar praises for his Disney+ show, A Thousand Blows, which launched last month.
The show has 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and also received many five star reviews. Stephen has become renowned for his intense performances in stories tackling hard-hitting subjects during his career. Fortunately, his life away from the screen is fortunately a lot more harmonious as he enjoys a peaceful life with his wife, Hannah Walters, and their two children, Grace and Alfie.
Hannah is also an actor and the two met at Rose Bruford College. They married in 2008 and are close collaborators as they both starred and produced A Thousand Blows. Speaking on the Graham Norton show last month, Stephen explained how Hannah was key to getting the production off the ground as she presented the story to Peaky Blinders creator, Steven Knight, who was captured by the idea.
Away from their thriving professional career, Stephen lives in the village of Ibstock in Leicestershire. Hannah is from Leicestershire and Stephen made the move to the village many years ago and has remained settled there through his rise to stardom. Speaking of his life in the village, Stephen previously told Leicestershire Live : "I'm part of the furniture here.
I love the sense of camaraderie in Ibstock, the community spirit. It's a proper English village. "I like it that I can go into Smith's, the local butchers – they've been here for years, you know – and people are all chatting and they say hello, how are ya and the treat me like they do everyone else.
" The village may be 106 miles from Liverpool, but the actor remains staunchly proud of his Merseyside roots and does everything he can to champion actors from our region. Throughout his career, he has supported actors such as Jodie Comer, James Nelson Joyce and Darci Shaw. He has also set up Matriarch Productions with Hannah to help underrepresented actors in the UK.
Although he holds a position of one of the country's finest actors Stephen hasn't let success go to his head as his career continues to go from strength to strenght. He told Leicestershire Live: I'm just a normal bloke, who feels very blessed. I was brought up the right way and my kids are brought up the right way.
I teach them to have manners, and to be decent. It doesn't cost anything to be like that, does it?" Adolescence is available to stream on Netflix now..
