Stephen Graham has not one but two hard-hitting dramas in Netflix's Top 10 in the UK — Adolescence, which is topping the chart, and a new entry, The Walk-In.
Adolescence has been a global hit, notably making UK TV history by becoming the first streaming show to top the UK’s weekly ratings chart, beating big hitters like BBC One's Death in Paradise.
Now, a second Stephen Graham drama has entered the Netflix Top 10 chart in the UK, and it’s about an equally troubling subject matter. While Adolescence sees Graham play the father of a 13-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murdering a girl from his school, The Walk-In sees Graham star as a reformed neo-Nazi.
Unlike Adolescence, The Walk-In is based on a true story. The five-parter, currently sitting at No. 10 in the chart and also available on ITVX, stars Graham as reformed neo-Nazi Matthew Collins, who then infiltrated a far right group and helped to foil the murder of a Labour MP back in 2017. It was originally shown on ITV in 2022 and is now available on Netflix.
Stephen Graham commented at the time: "It’s a hard-hitting story that pulls no punches But it's very important we have dramas like this that bring people the truth about these stories to start conversations."
In more depth, The Walk-In follows Matthew Collins (Stephen Graham), a reformed Neo-Nazi, who then worked as a bona fide journalist for the anti-racist organisation, Hope Not Hate.
He soon identifies a Far Right Neo-Nazi group marking itself out with a youthful clean-cut image but still hell bent on creating race war. His modus operandi is to infiltrate such organisations by running moles, or walk-ins, with the goal of publishing information online about their activities to expose and fracture them.
In spite of repeated attempts, he wasn’t able to break into this particular group. Consequently, they continued to grow in strength relatively unchecked until the horrific murder of MP Jo Cox brought their potential into sharp focus and they became the first Far Right organisation to be banned by the government since World War Two.
Although the marches and the social media posts stopped, Matthew Collins knew the group would only have been driven underground and that he had probably lost all chance of getting information from within. Until one day in March 2017 when he received an email from someone claiming to be a member. A mole ready to talk about a horrific plan to murder a second MP. He eventually foils the murder plot.
The drama largely drew warm reviews, although it wasn't without its critics, including from the MP who was the subject of the foiled murder plot. ITV defended the drama at the time, saying in a statement to the BBC: "From Hillsborough, Bloody Sunday, Appropriate Adult, Little Boy Blue and A Confession to The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries, ITV has a long record of broadcasting factual dramas based on or representing real events.
"Like these, The Walk-In is an important story which we believe it is overwhelmingly in the public interest to broadcast. We always conduct the making of these series carefully and responsibly."
The Walk-In is available on Netflix and ITVX in the UK. Adolescence is available on Netflix in the UK and US.
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