Stephen Graham's Tear-Jerking Adolescence

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th of March,: 2025

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and Apple TV thriller Dope Thief in which two friends poses DEA agents to rob drug dealers. And we'll also be checking out Ruka Hauer biopic Like Tears in Rain on Vioplay and period drama sequel Belgravia the next chapter on ITVX. But first Ian, what is in the news? Magpie Murders actor Conleth Hill will play Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.

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in the Disney Plus true crime drama Suspect, the shooting of Jean Charles de Meneses. What else is in the news, Hannah? Old favourite Danny Dyer and his daughter will team up to run a holiday park in the Sky Reality show, The Dyer's Caravan Park. I mean, really well thought out that title does what it says on the tin. Do you know what, if it was anyone else, I'd be rolling my eyes to the back of their head. But because it's The Dyer's, I think it will probably be quite good. Yeah, you'll be getting that one.

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Well, we said last week there was a bit of a thread of childhood trauma. A bit more of the same this week. So we've got a period drama. We've got a biopic. We've got a crime thriller and we've got a crime drama. And that's where we're going to start. Arriving on Netflix on Thursday the 13th of March. We have the new series Adolescence. And here's a clip.

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He's a good kid. Jamie, I you to listen carefully.

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I'm gonna start off with asking you Do you know a girl called Katie Leonard? Yeah, describe each other as friends then

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Is she then? Why would you ask her? Stephen Graham never stops to see Hannah and he stars in this. There are four episodes by the way. But he also came up with the idea and co-wrote it with Jack Thorne, the acclaimed screenwriter. And it's about knife crime basically. There's so many stories in the newspapers, aren't there, about

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teenage knife crime and that's is at the heart of this story so it kicks off with police battering down the door of a family home and arresting this 13 year old lad Jamie played by a newcomer Owen Cooper he's very good and Stephen Graham plays his dad you've also got Ashley Walters as the arresting officer Christine Tamarco as

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Eddie's wife, Manda. Mark Stanley, who's also in a lot of stuff at the moment and was in Happy Valley. He plays the Solicitor, Paul Barlow, and Erin Doherty, who, well, famously was in The Crown, but recently she was in A Thousand Blows with Stephen Graham, the period boxing drama. She plays the child psychologist, Bryony. And do remember Stephen Graham was in that film, which I think then

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became a TV series about a stressed out chef. was called Boiling Point and its USP, it was very good, but its USP was that it was all shot in one long take, which is quite a remarkable feat. Well, they've sort of done the same thing with this one shot per episode, which I guess technically is very impressive, but I don't know if it's worth the hassle, if I'm honest. Anyway.

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This draws you in straight away because you got the shock of the police raid. Then they take the kid down the police station. Mum, dad, the sister follow the duty solicitor turns up and we're straight into the police interviews. So I don't really want to give away too much, but the lad has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a classmate who has been stabbed to death. Each of the four different episodes.

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looks at a sort of different aspect of the case. Episode one is arrest and interview. Episode two, the aftermath of the crime at school. Episode three, the child psychologist. And episode four, one year later, what's happening in the family home now. I thought it was really good. Great cast. as always, is great as the sort of father who's sort of out of his depth in this situation. And I think we're going to uncover some interesting family.

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dynamics as we delve into this young lad's story. and a very timely piece of work, I would say. What did you think of this, Hannah? Do you know what? I sort of almost had a tear on my eye right from the very beginning. And I haven't watched all of this, but from what I've watched of it, I kind of already, it's really, really pacy, isn't it? you know, the music down to, like you say, that dawn raid. I mean, I...

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I don't know the reality of whether they would do a dawn raid for something like this. mean, there's obviously he's arrested for murder, but it seems kind of odd that a child, 13 year old child in this scenario was kind of just already there, you know, and I don't know. I mean, maybe that is what happens, but I did kind of question that. But aside from that, it was very, very heavy handed, but perhaps understandably.

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I think what's really interesting about this is the dynamic between the family members, particularly dad and son. And I think as it goes on, will be, you know, that there'll be more focus on that. But I mean, this is all because of the kind of increase in knife crime in young children and just how scary and awful it is. And this shines a light on really what is a very normal family.

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and I suppose how it could happen to anybody and you wouldn't necessarily know about it. And I think for me, that was the chilling factor through this. think from what I've seen so far, it is well done. It's multi-layered. There's some serious depth to this. And for any parent, I think it's quite a start.

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're turning the clock back to: 1871

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And here's a clip.

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n that. So this is now set in: 1871

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or not, I don't think that really matters particularly. But what I like about this is the, we talk about sort of multi-layered and faceted and kind of the depth of things, that there's a depth to this as well, because there's a stiff upper lip, isn't there, at this time, where you kind of, you you meet somebody, you kind of tell them of your intentions, they're certainly the parents of your intentions. And this focuses

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around one particular couple in the first episode particularly and He's not necessarily He's had he's had a bad childhood and so you see that coming through and how that could affect the relationship Which which I quite liked actually because it just felt like it had a little bit more You know a little bit more to it. So this focuses on the trenchard Grandson Lord Frederick

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He's a nice looking guy, he's a successful businessman, but his father was terrible to him. And you see little flashbacks of that, of what was happening when he was a child. so whilst he's, what we find out is actually it's because he was the product of an affair. It wasn't because, know, and of course it's not his fault at all, but the father hated him because of that, the, you know, not the real father. And that impacts everything.

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that he does and he meets Clara Dunn, played by Harriet Slater, and she catches Frederick's eye, know, and she just adores him and she's a really sort of innocent, vibrant, completely different family to his in so many ways, comes from a product of love really, and genuinely a family that adore her. And he makes his intentions clear and then you kind of witness that relationship and...

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watch the first series in: 2020

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of that Trenchard dynasty who is played by Benjamin Wainwright and Harriet Slater plays Clara who he falls for Julian Fellows wrote Belgravia and of course he's done a lot of stuff hasn't he so he did the brilliant film Gosford Park and Downton Abbey lots of other things he wrote the books for the stage musicals Mary Poppins and School of Rock did you know that Hannah?

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So he's pretty versatile. He hasn't written this sequel, but he's executive produced, so he's quite heavily involved in it. And he's just very good at writing very addictive, slightly kind of soapy, melodramatic, upstairs, downstairs type dramas. And this is another great example. And yes, as you say, there's this love story, but once they'd marry the pair,

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cracks begin to appear and he keeps having flashbacks to this abusive childhood. He's got a there's a hot vicar in it, a hot priest. His estranged brother played by Toby Regbo. Some interesting characters. There's this French exile, this Marquis played by Claude Perron. And of course, Miles Jupp and Sophie Winkleman from Peep Show.

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Yeah, they're in it as the Duke and Duchess of Rochester who are quite closely involved with the family. if you like Julian Fellow's stuff, you know exactly what you're going to get. And this absolutely delivers. Over on Viya Play, arrived on Monday the 10th of March, we have Like Tears in Rain, which is a documentary about the actor Rutger Hauer and here

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is a clip. Well of course Hannah, anyone who wants to do an impression of

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the actor Rutger Hauer and why wouldn't you quotes that line from Blade Runner in which he plays a replicant and he makes this speech as he's dying in the pouring rain where he says all these moments will be lost like tears in rain.

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This is a story all about Rutger and I have to say, it's a lot of home movie footage, he loved filming things and unfortunately it says at the beginning of documentary, he lost his massive archive in a flood, which is a terrible shame, but there's still quite a lot of stuff and it's a very domestic tale really, his wife is in it, he was really closely involved with his best friend, whose wife is his wife's sister, so they used to hang out together.

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and the other couple had two kids and Rook got absolutely doted on them. So there's lots of footage of them just hanging out as friends. He loved to travel. He loved adventure. He loved motorbikes. And it hints that he had a slightly problematic upbringing, but you don't get many details. He just, he looks like a movie star, which is what someone says in this. just, he uses charisma. But interestingly,

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I don't get the impression that he enjoyed especially film acting that much because obviously it took it away. It took him away from Holland and from his wife and often when he was on set he would just take this massive RV with him and he wouldn't hang out with the cast and crew. He'd just go in his caravan and stay there. But yeah, there's quite a few celebrity contributors in this. He was quite friendly with Whoopi Goldberg.

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which I didn't realise. Yeah, there's a few big names and he got a big break. I think his first big break in Hollywood was in a film called Nighthawks with Sylvester Stallone. He'd been in some of period dramas in his home country and he worked a little bit with the director Paul Verhoeven who is also interviewed. But apparently, you know, he could come across as quite a sort of brooding.

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presence who didn't really say much but I just you know watching this you just think I wish I'd been friends with Rutger Howe he's just like the coolest guy ever a really nice portrait of a much missed actor who everyone has nice things to say about and I mean you don't really hear much about for instance Blade Runner and the making of that and his part in that that's only a very short sequence

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It's very much his story, his personal life and especially his marriage. He was absolutely devoted to his wife. So yeah, I mean, I love Rutger Hauer anyway. I love Blade Runner and I loved this. What did you think, Hannah? Well, it's like all these kind of documentaries. You just find out so much you didn't already know. And I've got to be honest with you, my knowledge of Rutger Hauer is slim to nil. So all of it was fairly new to me. But you're absolutely right. He's kind of...

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brooding. He's absolutely somebody that you'd want to be mates with, isn't he? He's just totally cool. And I'd imagine a real presence, everybody that talks about him, including Whippy Goldberg, although having said that, she actually says that he's somebody you could talk to and that he could talk to her and there was nothing off limits. It wasn't sort of frightening to, but then in other instances, you kind of, you got the sense that when he walked on set, you stood in line because the godly one was there.

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And I can't remember who it was who was interviewed. He said that he's the best actor to come out of the Netherlands and always will be. You know, he's just absolutely brilliant. So you learn, you absolutely learn something new. It's, it's really interesting. And for somebody like me, if you're like me that didn't know a huge amount, you'll come away knowing an awful lot more. As you say, a lot of celebrity pals, a lot of unseen footage too, which I think is...

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Which is really nice, isn't it? Because it brings somebody to life really outside of the stage, which is nice. Well, we like to mix it up with our streaming platforms, don't we Hannah? And this week is no exception because we're going to finish on Apple TV plus with a new series that arrived on Friday, the 14th of March. It's called Dope Thief. And here's a clip. I'm going to explain to you what we do.

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Yeah, Apple TV have pulled it out of the bag again, haven't they? I mean, this really is...

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pretty excellent when it comes to a drama and really, really pacey. So this is the first season, there are eight episodes. So two drop on Friday and then it'll be weekly after that. This centers around the story around two petty criminals. They're good mates, Ray, played by Brian Tyree Henry and Manny, played by Wagner Mora. And they rob

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the wrong house. Now they're petty criminals, they've done time together, let's be clear, but they're... what's really nice about this, like, I always find this bothers me. You shouldn't really like petty criminals, should you? You shouldn't really like people that are doing bad things, that's wrong too. But this does a really good job of you liking this pair. Their friendship is really, really lovely. They're two kind of very male men, if that makes sense. They're very sort of...

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I suppose they are quite alpha males, yet there's so much love between them, there's so much care and they spend so much time together, including on the inside. So it's very much set around them. It's set in Philadelphia and they rob the wrong house. they pose as DEA agents and they try and steal cash and drugs.

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these trap houses. they're the houses that are being used to sell or manufacture the drugs. But this particular one is their downfall because they stumble across a much bigger production, a much bigger thing. it leaves a huge, it's a trail of destruction and the cartel are absolutely furious and everybody's in danger. Now, as I this couple, they're petty criminals. They're very, very likable as a duo. And suddenly they're landing themselves in something that they really didn't want to be landed in. And you see

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them talking to partner, mother and explain, we've got to move you. They're coming for you. We've got to protect you. It's incredibly gritty in places. There's lots of shooting. There's lots of action, a lot of action. Actually, I would say that generally it's something I would shy away from that I wouldn't particularly enjoy.

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But this had my heart racing. I know want it. want it. They're all baddies, but I want the good baddies to win, if that makes sense. So it was, from what I've seen so far, really enjoy it. I'm going to watch some more. What do you think Ian? I liked it, I must say. And yeah, it's a great idea posing as DEA, which is drug enforcement agency, agents to steal money and drugs from drug dealers. And it's not

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I mean, the action scenes are terrific. So it starts with them sort of staking out this, this house where drugs are dealt and going in with, know, with the guns and the badges and the caps. So it's exciting, but there's a really good, as you said, there's a great connection between the two. So Brian Tyree Henry was in Atlanta and Wagner Mora was in, he played Pablo Escobar in Narcos. They got good banter.

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And attention, Star Trek fans, you've got Kate Mulgrew as Rey's step-mum, Theresa. Yeah. We're going to sort of delve into their, again, their childhood stories because both of them have reasons why they ended up on the wrong side of the law. But it reminded me a little bit of, you know, in the De Niro film, Heat, where they bring a new bloke into the team and you just think...

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This guy looks dodgy and it's all going to go wrong. Well, something not dissimilar happens in this case. And yeah, they just basically they take on the wrong job. They get horrendously out of their depth. And it seems like I've only seen episode one, but it seems like the rest of the series is going to be like everyone's after them. Can they escape? It's set in Philadelphia, actually. And it's some executive produced by we were talking about Blade Runner.

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Ridley Scott. So yeah, I really liked it. yeah, it's got good characters, good dialogue, great action. Come on, what do you want guys? We've got to that time, Hannah, where we find out what the hell you've been binge watching this week. Well, funnily enough, somebody put on my, this is so old school, isn't it? Somebody put on my Facebook, but somebody put on my Facebook or on Facebook, I should say.

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You've got to watch the Would I Lie to You? New special with Bob Mortimer. And of course I was absolutely there for that. Loved it. And then it made me go and binge watch a load more that he was on because he's just so funny. He's legendary on that show isn't he? Because the things that turn out to be true that you think this can't possibly be true.

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And David just can't deal with it because he's like, whatever I say, this can't possibly be true. So I'm going to say it's true. It's pushing him to the edge. Well, I was very lucky. I got a ticket to a preview screening of a new documentary film about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It's called One to One John and Yoko. And it sort of it centers on a benefit concert they did at Madison Square Garden, which was called One to One.

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they both performed. But it really catches America at that time. The politics, the TV, the entertainment and the interesting counterculture people that Lennon and Ono were hanging out with. So yeah, for Beatles and Lennon fans that will be opening in UK cinemas on the 11th of April and it's recommended. Enough of that.

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We've just got time to look ahead to next week's pod. So what's on the binge watch menu, Hannah? Well, I can tell you that Ozu Aduba plays a bird watching sleuth investigating murder, of course, at the White House in Netflix comedy drama series, The Residents. And Richard Dormer, one of my favourites, and Phil Daniels join the cast of Gangs of London as the action packed crime drama returns to NOW TV. Yeah, so we look forward to those.

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and much much more but in the meantime dear listeners...