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Desert Island Discs

Stephen Graham, actor

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.413.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Stephen Graham is an actor, whose credits include key roles in films including This is England and The Irishman, and in TV dramas such as Boardwalk Empire and Line of Duty. Stephen was born in Kirkby just outside Liverpool in 1973. He discovered acting at school, where a starring role in a production of Treasure Island at the age of 10 was a turning point: local actor Andrew Schofield was in the audience and suggested that Stephen should join the Everyman Youth Theatre in Liverpool. After leaving school, Stephen won a place to study drama in London, but left after a year. His first roles as a professional actor, when he once pretended to be his own agent to talk his way into an audition, gave little indication of the success to come. In 2006, his performance as Combo the skinhead in This is England, directed by Shane Meadows, won widespread critical acclaim. More recently, he has played Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire, and the undercover policeman Corbett in the most recent series of Line of Duty. Stephen, who lives in Leicestershire, is married to fellow actor Hannah Walters, who he met at drama school. DISC ONE: Kasabian - Fire. DISC TWO: Marvin Gaye - Save the Children DISC THREE: Young MC - Know How DISC FOUR: Pink Floyd – Shine on You Crazy Diamond DISC FIVE: Rufus and Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody DISC SIX: Maverick Sabre – I Need DISC SEVEN: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Talk Tonight DISC EIGHT: DJ Fresh and High Contrast, featuring Dizzee Rascal – How Love Begins (The Hardcore will Never Die Edit) BOOK: Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach LUXURY: His own pillow CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ain’t Nobody - Rufus and Chaka Khan Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

0:04.6

Hello, I'm Lauren LeVern and this is the Desert Island Disks podcast.

0:08.3

Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to

0:12.8

take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.

0:16.4

And for right reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.

0:20.9

I hope you enjoy listening.

0:30.0

Music Music

0:36.0

Music Music

0:44.0

My cast away this week is Stephen Graham.

0:47.2

One of the hardest working British actors in the business, he caught the acting bug early.

0:51.9

He was born in Kirby near Liverpool and he cut his teeth at the city's star making

0:56.4

Everyman Theatre.

0:57.8

He's worked since his teens and it was his standout performance in Shane Meadows This

1:01.9

is England in 2006 that first won him wide critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

1:08.7

Since then he's found success on the big screen and the small.

1:12.1

Earlier this year, millions of TV viewers were gripped by his portrayal of a brutal undercover

1:17.0

cop in the BBC drama Line of Duty.

1:20.3

He's known for the powerful humanity and naturalism he brings to his roles, oh and for being

1:24.9

absolutely terrifying.

1:26.8

He's taken up cudgles for Martin Scorsese numerous times, first in Gangs of New York, then

1:31.9

as a brilliantly unhinged Al Capone in HBO's Boardwalk Empire and most recently as a mobster

1:37.9

Tony Provinzano in The Irishman.

...

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