Let’s face facts: Stephen Graham is one of TV and film’s ultimate sleeper agents.

For a very long time, his was the face that kept popping up all over the place, from The Bill, Coronation Street, Heartbeat and Band Of Brothers to Pirates Of The Caribbean, Snatch and This Is England. He’s even starred in a handful of Arctic Monkeys music videos (look closer at the clown in ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ if you don’t believe us).

Then, just like that, his Al Capone became our number one reason to watch Boardwalk Empire, and since then he’s positively dazzled us in a bevy of hard-boiled British dramas: think Line Of Duty, Peaky Blinders, Time, and Help, to name just a few.

It’s been the past few years, though, that have really seen Graham’s star launched into the stratosphere, thanks to his stellar performances in Boiling Point, Bodies, Blitz, and Matilda: The Musical. He has a whopping seven (7!) titles in production right now, right this very minute – we’re particularly excited for A Thousand Blows (due to drop this month on Disney+) and The Immortal Man, aka the hugely anticipated Peaky Blinders movie, obviously.

Watch the trailer for A Thousand Blows below:

Basically, Graham has proven time and time again that he is a scene-stealing star – one who, in all honesty, deserves every single one of the glittering accolades under his belt, and then some! It’s little wonder, too, that he has a swam of fans who have all but sworn their undying allegiance to him… although, at the time of this article’s publication, they have yet to agree upon a pithy name like Swifties or Cumberbitches (might we humbly suggest the Stephinators? Or the Grahamlings?).

“Best actor ever,” reads a Facebook comment from one of his many adoring fans.

“I would literally watch anything he’s in,” says another.

And still one more says: “Obsessed with Stephen Graham and everything he’s in.”

There’s far more to Graham’s appeal, however, than the fact that he’s one of the finest actors in the business. Rather, it’s because – in among a sea of celebrities and never-ending stream of glossy Instagram posts – he’s authentic AF.

It’s an authenticity that ripples through the heart of his many projects, almost all of which are hooked on themes of social realism. It’s in the fact that he acts because he loves it, really bloody loves it, and not because he wants to be a Hollywood star. And it’s present, too, in the way he always makes time for the people who adore him.

“‘I’ll be in Co-op and a 78-year-old woman will go, ‘Ooo, I saw you last night. That was a heavy one,’ and I’ll say, ‘Ah, thanks love,’” he recalls to Time Out. “‘It needs to be said, doesn’t it?’ is what she told me. That’s lovely.”

Yes, he still does the weekly shop at Co-Op. And he’s likely picking up acting inspiration along with the bread and milk, because Graham’s the kind of actor who builds his characters from the ground up. Or, rather, the feet up.

 “I’m a great one for nicking walks,” he tells The Guardian. “I might be sitting at St Pancras station or something and see someone walk, and I’ll go, ‘Ooooh, I love that.’ And I’ll lock it away and then I’ll try and go through my little Rolodex when I’m creating a character, and go, ‘That walk, I’m having that.’”

As if it isn’t enough that he invests so much time and effort into every single one of his characters, no matter how long they’re on screen for, it’s worth noting, too, that Graham is a man who prioritises those projects where he can showcase his actual Scouse accent. Who fell in love with cinema watching Starsky & Hutch with his beloved nana, chowing down on “big thick door-stopper jam butties” all the while. Who is famed for his integrity as much as he is his mega-talent. Who is as far from a nepo baby as humanly possible. Who takes care to honour his identity and heritage (his grandfather on his dad’s side was Jamaican). And who launched Matriarch – his production company with his wife, the one and only Hannah Walters of Whitechapel and Malpractice fame– not just so that he can tell the stories he’s truly passionate about, but so he that can create opportunities for other people, too.

“People who wouldn’t necessarily have gone to drama school can still have that chance to be given the opportunity to live the dream that they’ve always wanted to do,” he tells Square Mile.

Perhaps the reason we all love Graham most, though, is the fact that he’s so unapologetically British through and through.

“Upping the kids and going to America was never me,” he tells GQ, when they point-blank ask him why he chose to build his family’s life in Leicester, rather than set up shop in Los Angeles.

“My bread and butter and heart and soul are in Britain… I’ve asked myself, ‘Are you really ambitious?’ And I don’t think I am. When I did Boardwalk Empire, I traded my eight first-class flights for like, 50 economy ones so I could be home more.”

Basically, Graham is a legend both on and off the screen, and all of that integrity, authenticity and plain old goodness weaves a simple spell – one that turns every single film and TV show he touches into gold. And we pledge our allegiance to him a thousand times over, kissing the tips of our fingers and raising them up into the air, Hunger Games-style.

Anyone else suddenly even more excited about A Thousand Blows, then? Thought so…

A Thousand Blows is coming to Disney+ on 21 February.

This article was originally published in January 2023, but has been updated throughout to include new information.

Images: Getty/Netflix/BBC