For our February 2026 cover story Elizabeth Aubrey spoke to actor James Nelson-Joyce about A Thousand Blows season 2, what it means to work alongside the likes of Stephen Graham, and the success of acclaimed BBC drama This City Is Ours.
As part of the interview, Nelson-Joyce opened up about his relationship with fellow Scouse actor Stephen Graham and shared the unlikely story of their first meeting.
“I can honestly say Stephen Graham is the best thing to ever happen to me in my career,” he beamed.
He shared that his audition tape to play brothers, Henry ‘Sugar’ Goodson [Graham] and Edward ‘Treacle’ Goodson [Nelson-Joyce], with Graham for A Thousand Blows felt “easy” thanks to his close friendship with the star, even though their characters are often at loggerheads in the show.
He continued: “I know him so well and he knows me so well so that brotherly relationship was automatically there. I respect and love him so much and, in some ways, I think he sees me as a little brother.”
His life changed, he said, when he started to work with the fellow working-class Liverpudlian actor – and recent Golden Globe winner.
He shared that their first meeting was in an unlikely place as Nelson-Joyce spotted Graham in a branch of Nandos and went over and introduced himself to the actor.
“He was my icon. I told him I loved his work and that I’d love to work with him one day,” he smiled, recounting the memory.
During the interaction Graham’s wife, actor and producer Hannah Walters, gave Nelson-Joyce an email address and told him to let them know of his future work.
“I was too embarrassed to do that,” he admitted, but three years later, after working hard to get a foot in the door via small parts in shows like Shameless, he was cast in high-profile ITV drama Little Boy Blue alongside Graham – and he remembered the young actor.
“You’re that lad from Nandos!” Graham shouted over to him during the read-through. Since then, Graham has become both a mentor and friend. They starred in gritty Jimmy McGovern prison drama Time together in 2021, and now they’re playing brothers in A Thousand Blows, the new series of which is streaming on Disney+.
Read the full interview in our new issue, which will be on sale soon here.
