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Stephen Graham, who is now dominating Netflix with Adolescence, has long been a force in British acting. Yet for many, his defining role remains that of Combo, the volatile, racist skinhead in This is England.
The Shane Meadows classic revolved around a young boy falling under the influence of Combo’s gang, a character so raw and intense that it left an imprint not just on audiences, but on Graham himself.
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No matter the role, Stephen Graham will pull out all the stops and break our hearts. #Adolescence pic.twitter.com/3p3wpH9Ff0
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— Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) March 16, 2025
The 51-year-old’s performance earned widespread acclaim, building on the momentum of his role in Snatch and for a moment it seemed as though he was on the cusp of becoming one of Britain’s top actors. But it wasn’t meant to be.
The industry had other plans and for eight long months after This is England, the phone simply didn’t ring. There were no auditions, no offers and at one point, he was ready to give it all up and become a youth worker instead.
The emotional toll of playing Combo was also immense. As a mixed-race man, stepping into the mindset of a violent racist was excruciating for Graham. Not only that, filming dredged up childhood memories, including “little monkey boy,” and other “horrible words that” Graham didn’t “even want to say.” He would return home after particularly harrowing scenes, and break down in tears. At his lowest, he turned to alcohol to cope.
But This is England also proved transformative. In an interview on Desert Island Discs, Graham reflected on how it changed him as an actor, teaching him to fully immerse himself in a role.
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“I love to go into people’s living rooms and create conversation and debate, try and bring about some discussion about what they’re watching,” he said. “It’s important for me, as an actor, to be part of something that’s a social commentary.”
And this philosophy runs deep in his latest project, Adolescence, a series he not only stars in but also co-wrote.
Adolescence, a gripping drama about a young boy accused of murder, has exploded in popularity, topping Netflix charts worldwide with over 90 million hours of viewing time and counting.
However, for Graham, the numbers are secondary to the message. “We wanted to put a mirror up to society and just say take a little look and see what’s going on,” he said of the show in an interview with ITV.
He also said when discussing the show with Radio X, “Look, it started when I read an article, and it was an article about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and it just, you know, it made me feel cold.”
Stephen Graham read stories of young boys killing young girls and took a deep dive into the societal causes while creating @netflix’s #Adolescence. #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/RV6docEGIH
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) March 20, 2025
Graham went on to add, “Then a couple of months later, there was a piece on the news, and it was about a young boy who’d stabbed a young girl to death, and if I’m really honest with you, they hurt my heart. These two incidents were opposite ends of the country. And I just thought, ‘Why? Why is this happening?’”
He concluded, “Not just because I’m a father, but I think any kind of human being with an ounce of moral compass can look at that kind of situation and think, ‘What’s happening? What’s going on with society today that we’re in?’”
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