Stephen Graham had one concern heading into his latest project, A Thousand Blows—and it wasn’t the physical transformation or months of gruelling training required.
Instead, the 51-year-old Liverpudlian star was conscious of appearing ‘noncey’, as the role requires an on-screen relationship between his character and that of 32-year-old Erin Doherty.
Graham portrays Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson in the new Disney Plus series, a dangerous, veteran boxer living in the 1880s era of Victorian London.
Goodson meets Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) and Alec (Francis Lovehall), two best friends from Jamaica who are fighting for survival in the East End.
It’s a challenging role, to say the least, and a far cry from the likes of Graham’s previous work in shows such as Boiling Point, Time, Little Boy Blue, and Bodies.
Speaking in a new interview, the iconic British star expressed his reservations about depicting Goodson’s romance with Mary Carr, the leader of the all-female crime syndicate the Forty Elephants.
Admitting that the ‘chink in Goodson’s armour’ is, indeed, love, he told Radio Times of working with The Crown actress, who is almost 20 years his junior: ‘I’ll try and choose the word correctly, I didn’t want it to appear “noncey.”
‘Erin and I spoke a lot about the complexities of that relationship because Mary is a lot younger than Sugar. You have to make sure it’s not like that; try to make it a complex love.
‘Sugar also has this self-deprecating feeling that he doesn’t really deserve love. For him, she’s like a beautiful bird that he feels he’s captured, but he doesn’t want to.’
The Kirkby-born actor then joked: ‘Does that sound pretentious?’
Graham boxed as a teenager, so had some of the ‘core skills’ needed to shape Goodson on the small screen.
But that’s not to say he didn’t take the casting seriously or give it his all, describing acting as ‘not a job’ but rather a ‘vocation’, adding that he feels ‘honoured’ to do what he does for a living.
On undergoing the incredible aesthetic transformation to play the threatening and violent Goodson, Graham revealed that he gained two stone.
To remodel his own physique, he worked with a team of coaches, including a dietician, and trained five days a week, eating five meals a day.
‘Lots of protein: chicken, rice, and broccoli,’ he explained.
‘Every Friday I was allowed a treat, a Nando’s or a burger, but with no bun. And I could have some ice cream.’
Graham’s transformation even shocked him, as he didn’t realise just how well the intense regime worked until watching back the first scene where Goodson makes his way into the ring.
‘It was the shot of my back when the camera’s following me. I went, “F*****g hell, is that me?”,’ he recalled.
A Thousand Blows has been created by Steven Knight, who is also the mastermind behind Peaky Blinders.
The upcoming series is based on the true story of a 19th- to 20th-century all-female crime syndicate that specialised in shoplifting.
Speaking ahead of the six-parter’s release, Knight told Metro stressed the importance of the programme standing ‘on its own,’ irrespective of the success of his previous work.
‘There are similarities and differences,’ he said when addressing the parallels that have been made between A Thousand Blows and Peaky Blinders. ‘I try to make everything that I do stand alone and be itself.’
The 65-year-old outlined that there is an ‘obvious’ similarity in the fact that it’s a ‘working class story’, as well as being a period drama.
‘It’s about men and women who are outside of convention, but who ultimately want to be respectable in the end. They want to get there, but the way they get there is by doing things, bad things. So there are similarities, and I don’t mind that,’ he shared.
‘I think what you have to do is accept other people’s views because objectively, you can’t judge your own stuff.’
A Thousand Blows premieres on Friday, February 21 on Disney Plus.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
