This is England and Peaky Blinders star Stephen Graham has had many on-screen partnerships which are memorable and solidify his role as a UK TV legend, but it's off camera that his greatest love story unfolded, with actress wife, Hannah Walters, who he met in drama school back in the 1990s.
The couple's love story is a slow burn, much like Combo and Lol's from This is England, but, thankfully, has way more of a happy ending. The pair, who married in June 2008, were close friends before falling in love - but they almost didn't get together after Stephen admitted, on Desert Island Discs in 2019, that he was unsure of what he wanted, being in his early twenties and that the saying 'you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone' is truer than he thought.
He explained: "She went to Spain for a little bit and I couldn't see her, and she was going to move out there. She came back and we hadn't been on a date in these five years, six years, just talking lots. And I said 'can I take you on a date?' She went 'what?'
"And we went to see Saving Private Ryan, had a bite to eat in Greenwich and we were at New Cross train station and I said 'please don't go to Spain.'
"She asked 'why?' and I said 'Well, I love you.' She said she'd been waiting five years for me to say that. And the next day we moved in together. And we've been together ever since."
Stephen and Hannah have two children together, Grace and Alfie and the couple live in Leicestershire. Most recently, in 2021, Stephen and Hannah starred opposite each other in BBC drama Time, which saw them played married couple Eric and Sonia McNally. They have also appeared together in This is England, Pirates of the Caribbean and the film, Boiling Point.
Line of Duty star Stephen, whose career has grown from strength to strength in recent years, talked about his marriage further during his Desert Island Discs interview on BBC Radio 4 and in an emotional revelation, the actor, 49, described how he attempted to take his own life but was supported by his then future wife.
"I had a breakdown," he said. "Going to that big London to do it on your own. Then I went back home. [My parents] were trying to see what was happening with me. I'll never forget the tears coming down both their faces. Then the next day I tried to hang myself. It was very calculated. I kicked the chair and I heard my Nana's voice. She shouted 'Stephen' and I thought I'd gone. I just came to, opened my eyes and the rope had snapped. Thankfully."
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Stephen continued: "This is kind of where Hannah came into my life properly. She knew what had happened. She was always in close contact with my mum."
In 2020, Stephen opened up about being diagnosed with dyslexia and praised his wife for helping him to read and choose scripts. "I'm dyslexic so I struggle," he said at a BAFTA Sessions panel. "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."
Stephen and Hannah will next work together on Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight's Disney+ project, A Thousand Blows. The new series centres on Hezekiah and Alec, two friends from Jamaica who find themselves embroiled in the Victorian London boxing scene. Hannah recently shared a photo of the script with her Instagram followers. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
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