Shane Meadows

Stephen Graham: “You need to give people opportunities to tell the stories that are out there to be told”

Stephen Graham (Credit: Channel 4)

Despite Stephen Graham’s star status among Hollywood’s elite, he is still one of the most down to earth actors in the business.

Although he has worked with some of the biggest stars over the years, for him, there was only one person that left him feeling starstruck.

“Steven Gerrard,” Graham laughed. “That’s the only time I’ve ever lost my bottle, I found myself talking posh and thought, ‘Stephen, what are you doing? Shut up, where’s this voice come from?’”

Comfort Classic: This is England '86

Hilarious, ribald and ridiculous but also achingly bleak and sad. This Is England ’86 is all these things but, more than anything, what it has in spades is humanity.

The 2010 Channel 4 drama features a gang of largely unemployed misfits in an unnamed, impoverished East Midlands coastal town, following England’s progress at Maradona’s “Hand of God” World Cup in Mexico.

The gang comes in all ages, shapes and sizes, sporting the worst 1980s haircuts. There’s no fake tan, fancy nails or gym bodies on show, as you fear there would be in a contemporary version.

Shane Meadows’ The Gallows Pole gets trailer and release date

David Hartley stood with an animal skull scarecrow behind him

Based on the book of the same name by Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole tells the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, the 18th Century fraud gang who constructed the biggest counterfeit operation in British History.

The drama follows the gang of weavers and land workers who began to forge coins in order to keep their West Yorkshire community afloat, albeit capsizing the economy in the process.

BBC One announces cast for Shane Meadows’ drama The Gallows Pole

Top L-R: Michael Socha, Thomas Turgoose, George MacKay, Tom Burke, Sophie McShera. Bottom L-R: Cara Theobold, Yusra Warsama, Samuel Edward-Cook, Anthony Welsh (credit: BBC)

Based on the novel of the same name by Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole fictionalises the remarkable true story of the biggest fraud in British history, conducted by the enigmatic David Hartley and the Cragg Vale Coiners in 18th century Yorkshire. Set against the backdrop of the incoming industrial revolution, David Hartley assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark upon a revolutionary criminal enterprise that will capsize the economy.

Winners of the RTS Craft & Design Awards 2019 announced

The winners were announced at a prestigious ceremony held this evening at the London Hilton, Park Lane, and was hosted by political comedian Ahir Shah.

The RTS Craft & Design Awards celebrate excellence in broadcast television and aim to recognise the huge variety of skills and processes involved in programme production. They span across 30 categories in total, and this year Chernobyl led the way with six wins across Costume Design – Drama, Make Up Design – Drama, Music – Original Score, Photography – Drama & Comedy, Production Design – Drama and Sound - Drama categories.

Editing masterclass with Emma Lysaght and Matthew Gray

Matthew Gray and Emma Lysaght (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

How to get into editing: Emma Lysaght: “I left school at 16. My father was a film editor so I grew up watching my dad cut film. It was something I’d always wanted to do.

“It was quite a male environment, I was very nervous and very shy. I didn’t get into the cutting room until I was 19. My dad knew of one female editor.

“She needed an assistant so I stepped in and became her assistant. Within the first few months I was cutting news for Channel 4, which was very pressurised but you know exactly what you’ve got to do in those three minutes.