Line of Duty star Stephen Graham hailed for ‘acting masterclass’ in gritty drama The Virtues
STEPHEN Graham was tonight hailed for delivering an acting “masterclass” in gritty new drama The Virtues, where he played broken alcoholic Joe. Fans were left stunned by his performance in the heartbreaking first episode of the four-parter, with one declaring it “possibly the best thing on TV in 2019”. Fresh from wowing fans as Line […]
STEPHEN Graham was tonight hailed for delivering an acting “masterclass” in gritty new drama The Virtues, where he played broken alcoholic Joe.
Fans were left stunned by his performance in the heartbreaking first episode of the four-parter, with one declaring it “possibly the best thing on TV in 2019”.
Fresh from wowing fans as Line Of Duty’s undercover cop John Corbett, it seemed he has delivered again.
One raved: “Stephen Graham is not acting in The Virtues. This is how good he is. Utterly believable and convincing.”
Another tweeted: “@StephenGraham73 acting in the virtues is on another level. Omg he has to be the best male actor on tv right now
.”
Another insisted: “Crikey, The Virtues makes Broken look like a Chuckle Brothers Special. Relentless misery so far. Stephen Graham magnificent.”
One other wrote: “Knock out performance from Stephen Graham tonight. Now, THAT is acting. I think he’s probably my favourite actor. I’ve never seen him be anything but brilliant.”
The Virtues saw Stephen reunited with Shane Meadows, who wrote for and directed him in the This Is England movie and series.
Viewers saw Joe tumble into despair when his nine-year-old son Shea left Liverpool for Australia with his ex Debbie.
Suffering the hangover from hell, he walked away from his present life and headed for Ireland to confront some difficult memories from his childhood.
The key sequence in tonight’s episode saw Stephen on a bleakly messy night out, stumbling from pub to pub and munching a messy kebab.
One viewer wrote: “I think that is the best acting of someone on a proper bender I have ever seen.”
Another even reckoned it could force them to quit booze, asking: “Anyone put off drinking yet?
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