Adolescence star Stephen Graham's dyslexia struggle: Actor's wife reads his scripts for him to decide on new projects before he has to repeatedly go over lines to learn his parts

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He is one of the great British character actors, a serial Bafta nominee whose face has become familiar through a long line of TV and film hits that runs from Line of Duty and This is England to Pirates of the Caribbean and Marvel's Venom films. 

What is perhaps less familiar, though, is that Stephen Graham owes his place in the national consciousness in no small part to his wife, the actress and producer Hannah Walters.

Without Walters, who has been at Graham's side ever since the couple first met at drama school, the 51-year-old might never have uttered immortal lines such as: 'My name's Hayden Stagg, I hear there’s some men here from Birmingham looking for me,' as he did in one of the more unforgettable moments from the BBC crime series Peaky Blinders. 

Graham, currently the focus of critical acclaim for his role as the father of a teenage boy accused of murder in the hit Netflix drama Adolescence, has dyslexia - posing obvious obstacles when it comes to reading scripts and learning lines, twin staples of the actor's craft.

Walters, to whom Graham has been married since 2008, has offered her husband invaluable support, carefully vetting the scripts put before him and ensuring he makes the best decisions for his career.

'I'm dyslexic, so I struggle,' Graham revealed on a Bafta Sessions panel in 2019. 'My missus actually reads the script and says whether or not I'm doing it. She's made some good choices.

'I have to read it and read it and read it, then make it look like it's the first time I'm saying it.'

The task is made easier by the fact that the couple have their own production company, Matriarch Productions, which they established in 2020. Formed with the aim of providing a platform for underrepresented voices and stories, the collaboration yielded the Bafta-nominated film Boiling Point the following year, in which Walters not only served as an executive producer but also appeared on screen.

Stephen Graham is seen in his role as Eddie Miller, father of a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering a girl in the hit Netflix drama Adolescence

Stephen Graham, left, kisses Hannah Walters upon their arrival for the London premiere of the film Roald Dahl's Matilda: The Musical in October 2022. He has described Walters as his rock

Graham has revealed on Act on This, an online platform for TV actors, that dealing with the dyslexia necessitates a painstaking and methodological approach to his job

As Graham has revealed on Act on This, an online platform for TV actors, dealing with dyslexia necessitates a painstaking and methodological approach to his job. It is one he undertakes not only for personal reasons, but also out of a clear sense of collective responsibility to his colleagues. 

'I read the whole script and we can talk about the script and I find my way into my character and what's happening through the journey, said Graham. 

'It's a technique that me and Hannah have developed; it's not just me, I know a few other people do it.

'I break it down in bite-size chunks, so I know exactly what I'm shooting on what specific day.

'If you've got a couple of big days on the bounce, it's no good having it all in your head. It's good to have it roughly there, but as soon as we finish work, I'm going back to my hotel room to sit and learn those lines for the next day, so when I come in the next day I'm ready to go. 

'Different actors their own techniques, and I respect all of them.   

'If I was to give any kind of advice to any actor, [it would be to] do the work - because you need to do the work in order to make it look like you don't do the work.'

Speaking about her on-screen collaboration with Graham in the BBC prison drama Time in 2021, Walters said she landed the role by dint of their 'quite good chemistry,' adding that 'it would have been shocking' had they failed to deliver a convincing performance as husband-and-wife duo Eric and Sonia McNally. 

Graham has forged a strong reputation for hard-man roles, not least in the This is England film series. Here he is seen in his role as the skinhead Combo in the first film, released in 2006

'If I was to give any kind of advice to any actor, [it would be to] do the work - because you need to do the work in order to make it look like you don't do the work,' says Graham

Graham, meanwhile, has long been his wife's most ardent fan. 

'I watched Hannah back in the day at drama school and always thought she was brilliant,' Graham once said, reflecting on her talent during an online Q&A about Time.

Walters was instrumental in getting the go-ahead for production of A Thousand Blows, the Disney+ crime and boxing drama set in Victorian London, which she successfully pitched to Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.

The couple live in Ibstock, Leicestershire, near to Walters' family, where they are well-liked in the community and live in a modest £450k four-bedroomed semi. The showbiz pair were chosen to cut the ribbon at a newly reopened doctors' surgery in the village, following a revamp two years ago.

Speaking of his life in Ibstock, Stephen previously told Leicestershire Live: 'I'm part of the furniture here. I love the sense of camaraderie in Ibstock, the community spirit. It's a proper English village.

'I like it that I can go into Smith's, the local butchers – they've been here for years, you know – and people are all chatting and they say hello, how are ya and the treat me like they do everyone else.'