Stephen Graham has opened up about the wild night out he had with Arctic Monkeys after appearing in one of their early music videos.
Graham appeared in Alex Turner and co’s music video for their song ‘When The Sun Goes Down’ – the second single from their seminal 2006 debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’. In the video, the actor plays the role of a “scummy man” alongside actress Lauren Socha (Misfits).
While speaking to Mirror, the Adolescence star and co-creator opened up about his crazy night out with the Sheffield rockers after they finished filming the music video.
“When we finished they asked me for a drink, it was when I used to drink. I was like ‘Yeah, sure, go ahead then’,” Graham told the outlet. He shared that they ended up at The Leadmill – the famous grassroots venue that helped break the Arctic Monkeys and is currently facing an uncertain future after they recently lost their eviction court battle with its landlord.
While at the club, things ended up getting rowdy after someone began to cause trouble. “We were having a laugh and then it went a bit strange,” the actor recalled. “They were on the rise. It was a student night. And this big, massive, tall student just came over and started giving them loads of jib. For no reason, from nowhere. He’s pushed Alex and he’s gone to slap Helders. And this little Scouser went ‘That’s not on’ and so I threw this punch and it hit the lad and he fell back and then it all went a bit… The lad ended up getting kicked out.”
The group then ended up heading to a house party with a girl whom Turner had been closing up to. “This lovely girl, she was being very friendly with Alex. We went back to the place where they lived and Alex went upstairs with this girl,” Graham began.
He continued: “Then he comes running down saying ‘We’ve got to go’. We were like ‘What’s wrong?’ and he said “Please, let’s go.’ Me and Helders snuck upstairs and there was posters of them all over the wall.”
Previously speaking to Jo Whiley on her Radio 2 show, Graham revealed that he had not been back to Sheffield since. “It was very funny, a great experience. My first night out in Sheffield, my only night out in Sheffield.”
Elsewhere, Graham’s new drama Adolescence – which focuses on a father dealing with the fallout of his son being suspected of murder – has been a ratings hit for Netflix, and prompted a wider discussion about toxic masculinity in the UK.
Recently, Graham and Hannah Walters – his co-creator, wife and regular co-star in projects such as Boiling Point, A Thousand Blows, and This Is England – shut down rumours of a potential prequel to the show and shared that a follow-up is a “possibility”.
The show made history by becoming the first streaming show to top the UK TV ratings, with 6.45million people in the first week of release putting it ahead of traditionally broadcast programmes.
NME’s four-star review of Adolescence said: “While there’s room for improvement, Adolescence is still essential viewing. Its unflinching commitment to the darkest corners of the story will remain with you long after the credits have rolled”.