The Virtues

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?’”

Stephen Graham and Sean Bean to star in new BBC One drama Time

Time explores the two sides of the penal system, the punishers and the punished, and how prison affects all who pass through.

Mark Hebden (Bean), teacher, husband and father, welcomes a four-year jail sentence for killing an innocent man in an accident, having been consumed by the guilt.

Bean said: “Getting to be involved in a Jimmy McGovern drama again is a real privilege and it will be great to be reunited with Stephen.

"Mark Hebden is another of Jimmy’s complex and superbly written characters and I am looking forward to bringing him to life on screen.”

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.

Stephen Graham boards adaptation of The North Water

Captain Brownlee (Stephen Graham) in The North Water (Credit: BBC/Harpooner Films Limited/Dean Rogers)

The North Water is set during the late 1850s and follows a disgraced army surgeon, Patrick Sumner (O’Connell), who attempts to flee from his past by joining a whaling expedition in the Arctic.

Led by Captain Brownlee (Graham) and the ship’s owner Baxter (Courtenay), Sumner serves on the Volunteer as the ship’s medic.

Sumner’s quest for redemption takes a brutal turn when he encounters cruel harpooner Henry Drax (Colin Farrell), whose indifference towards killing reflects the harshness of the Arctic wasteland they’re sailing towards.

BBC One commissions new four-part series from Jack Thorne

Jack Thorne (Credit: BBC)

Best Interests tells the story of two parents who must make a life-changing decision that no one could ever want to make.

Andrew and Nicci’s daughter, Marnie, suffers from a life-threatening condition to the extent that medical staff have suggested that it would be in her best interests to be allowed to die to end any suffering.

Andrew and Nicci struggle to contemplate the decision and launch a legal battle to prevent their daughter’s death.