Stephen Graham on why Adolescence character was not based on his own dad

Stephen Graham plays a heartbroken father in his new series, Adolescence.

👉 Click Here to read in detail 👈

Stephen Graham helped write Adolescence

Adolescence is streaming on Netflix and it marks actor Stephen Graham's first project as a writer. He also plays Eddie Miller, the father of 13-year-old Jamie (played by Owen Cooper) who is accused of murder.

Jamie chooses his father to be present with him in interviews and identification processes at the local police station. While Eddie thinks it is all a big mistake, little does he know the impact the accusations will have on his entire family.

The series is set in Liverpool, with Stephen explaining how he based his character Eddie on a lot of working class men he grew up around, including his uncles and his friends' dads. He said: "I wanted him to be a kind of everyman, someone who loves his family and grafts really hard to provide for them, often without realising it’s to their detriment.

"He goes out at 7am and comes back at 6pm and his tea is on the table and at weekends he goes down the pub or the social club with his friends and to the park on Sunday to watch his kid play football. He feels things very deeply and he’s a good man but he doesn’t have the tools or the background to express his feelings because it’s not how he was raised.

"I grew up watching the dramas of Jimmy McGovern and Alan Bleasdale, who dealt in powerful social realism, and Eddie seemed exactly the type of character they might have created."

Stephen Graham opens up on the inspiration for his character

It took a while for the creators to land on a name for his character, but it was when Stephen was at the football watching Liverpool that inspiration struck.

He was with his dad, brother, his two children and his uncle Eddie, whom he adores. "I looked at him down the row and knew immediately that’s what our character should be called," he said.

"Not just because it’s a good name but because they do have quite a lot - if not all things - in common."

There was a reason why he chose not to base Eddie on his real dad, explaining he was not a "typical" working class man.

"When I was growing up he was head paediatric nurse at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, which was an unusual job for a working class man," he revealed.

Stephen Graham as Eddie Miller and Owen Cooper as Jamie Miller

"My mum was a social worker and both of them had this amazing empathy for the job and for people in general. Luckily enough, they were really communicative with us too.

"I was always extremely close with my mum and my pops. We’ve talked about everything.

"Then I thought, what happens if you have a young lad like Jamie who maybe doesn't get on anywhere near as well as I do with my father, or as well as I get on - thank God - with my own son, Alfie?"

In Adolescence, there is somewhat of a disconnect between father and son, and although Eddie doesn’t wish for this, he doesn’t know how to bridge the gap.

"Maybe this boy, not being able to talk to the grownups about his situation, is a key part of our story," Stephen concluded.

Adolescence is streaming on Netflix

👉 Click Here to read in detail 👈

Miatamil

Listed here the latest Trending News