James Nelson-Joyce interview

After memorable roles in Time, The Outlaws, and Bird, Liverpool’s own James Nelson-Joyce takes the lead in new BBC crime epic This City Is Ours and joins his ‘big brother’ Stephen Graham in Disney+ boxing drama A Thousand Blows.

We caught up with James to discuss the two highly anticipated shows, workouts at the Rotunda, and how he helped smuggle some Bisto into Spain for Sean Bean…

Words | Lawrence Saunders

The last time we spoke was in 2021, just after you finished filming The Outlaws. Fair to say you’ve been pretty busy since then – The Responder, The Gold, A Town Called Malice, The Covenant, The Trap, Bird… How’s the ride been?

Over the last two and a half years, I feel like it’s gone to that next level work-wise. But it’s not one of those things that just happens overnight. I’ve been at this for 15 to 20 years – I’ve put the slog in. You’ve got to have a thick skin because you’re getting told no the majority of the time when you’re starting off. There are actors who are 10 times better than me who aren’t able to take the rejection.

I finished a job in October and I haven’t done anything since. It’s been weird not filming everyday but nice to have a bit of normality and see my family. Don’t get me wrong, there are things you have to do – like ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement), press work, and, of course, auditions – but for me, the key to ticking over is going to the gym. I train at the Rotunda ABC in Kirkdale. At circuit training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you’ve got world champion boxers like Liam and Callum Smith, and Natasha Jonas – but at the other end of the scale, there are 70 year-old blokes, and everyone’s just having the craic. It’s a brilliant atmosphere.

Aside from perhaps Time and The Responder, A Thousand Blows and This City Is Ours are the biggest and most high-profile projects you’ve been a part of. How does that feel? Exciting?

A few people have said that to me, and while it is the next level, for me, the work is done – I’ve shot them now. Of course, I want people to watch and enjoy the shows – they’re brilliant. But for me, the real fun is in doing the job, the filming itself. I find it hard to watch programmes that I’m in – I really don’t like watching myself.  I’ll watch This City Is Ours and A Thousand Blows because I had such a great time making them, and both are truly ensemble-led pieces. Don’t get me wrong, with A Thousand Blows, Malachi [Kirby], Stephen [Graham], and Erin [Doherty] are the three leads, but the show – like This City Is Ours – is so ensemble-driven. In A Thousand Blows, you’ve got Hannah Walters, who’s Stephen’s wife, playing Eliza Moody, a member of The Forty Elephants gang. Hannah is like a big sister to me, and I love both of them. It’ll be great to watch their work and see what they’ve done.

Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, is the lead writer for A Thousand Blows – it also stars and is executive produced by Stephen Graham. When you first heard about the project and saw who was involved, were you eager to be a part of it?

It’s a mixture of everything. First of all, Stephen Graham – along with Pete Postlethwaite – is the reason I got into acting. We are close, and we were close before we shot A Thousand Blows, he really is like a big brother to me. So for him to play my big brother on screen, it was like playing in midfield for Liverpool FC alongside Stevie Gerrard. Then I read the script and learnt that it was about real people. It’s just a brilliant show.

I love boxing, so I was really drawn to that side of the story – Lord Lonsdale, Hezekiah Moscow coming over from Jamaica, and how he ended up boxing. The story is incredible and on top of that you’ve got The Forty Elephants which was a women-only gang back in the late 1880’s. It’s something you wouldn’t expect because when we think of women in that period, we don’t picture them being out there, being violent – but these women were. The story just gets you from the start. When I was reading the script, I thought, ‘I have to be in this!’.

How was the audition process?

The first audition I had was a self-tape. I was living in a little cottage in Woolton, and one night, while we were sitting down for a late dinner – we were flying to Mykonos for a friend’s wedding the next day – I got a call saying, ‘They loved your tape; will you come back next week for a chemistry read?’

So, the whole time I was at the wedding, I was half-looking at my phone, reading more material, learning more lines, thinking, ‘I’ve got to get this – this has to be mine’. At the chemistry read there were some big-name actors who went before me. Then I walked into the room, and Stephen [Graham] was in there, and I swear, we were wearing the exact same clothes. That hadn’t been planned! The storyline focuses on the relationship between the brothers, and there’s this scene between Stephen and me. I don’t want to give too much away, but while the text was brilliant, it was what wasn’t said that made it so powerful.

After we’d shot a couple of takes, I told the casting director, ‘This time, I’m going to give you a totally different performance’. When Stephen asked me questions, I deliberately didn’t reply, even though I had lines in the script. It was all about the unsaid and because Stephen is such an instinctive actor [I knew it would work]. If someone keeps ignoring you over and over, it pisses you off! There came a point in the scene where the characters just exploded. When I left the audition, I thought, ‘I’ve either completely f *ed it, or I’ve shown them what me and Stephen can bring to the table’.

Period dramas aren’t something you’ve done much of, if at all. How did you find stepping back in time to Victorian London for A Thousand Blows?

I absolutely loved it. We spent a year shooting in Richmond. All the sets were handbuilt. Going into work, you’d see horses walking down a cobbled road. Being on set really did feel like stepping back into Victorian times. Making the show was a gift. I’ve always been into history, and I also love boxing. So, to learn about boxing history – how Lord Lonsdale established the rules, and how the stance was so different back then – was fascinating. We even had a boxing coach on set one day who taught us the old stance, which was very stiff and upright. When you watch the lads in the Rotunda, like Beefy (Liam Smith) and Callum, they’re anything but stiff. They’re loose and fluid.

Moving on to This City Is Ours, this feels like a big moment in your career – BBC One, primetime, produced by Left Bank Pictures (The Crown), and you’re playing the lead. Does it feel like a big moment for you?

For me, it’s not about whether you’re the lead or not; it’s about the storyline. Take Time, for example – I wasn’t anywhere near the lead, but Johnno was an exciting character to play. In football, there’s nothing better than when a substitute comes on and changes the game or scores a goal in the last minute. There is something magical about that. [Joe] Pesci in Goodfellas – he’s not the lead but f **k me, he steals it!

What attracted you to This City Is Ours and the role of Michael Kavanagh, who’s story is at the heart of the show?

With This City Is Ours, it was the storyline that drew me in more than anything. We all know people involved in the drug game. My character, Michael, is at a crossroads in his life – torn between a life of crime and a future with his partner, Diana. He’s being pushed and pulled from both sides. There’s the Michael Kavanagh at home with his missus, trying for a baby, trying to be the man he really is – then there’s the Michael on the street, the one you don’t mess with, very business-oriented. What drew me in was being able to play the Jekyll and Hyde of the story – and the downfall of Michael.

These people, the ones we know are in this drug world, 99% of them are more switched on than anyone else you know. They’re clever, astute people who’ve been raised in a working class background, and unfortunately, due to a lack of employment opportunities or a proper education, they’re forced to earn a bread this way. They could run this country better than these clowns are! That’s the beauty of these people, but everyone wants to write them off because of the world they’re in – because of the violence, and because drugs ruin lives, which they do. But let’s not forget, these politicians are ruining lives every day too – they’re just doing it legally.

The show was filmed mostly here in Liverpool, with additional shoots in Marbella and the Isle of Man. What was it like filming a big production like this in your own city?

We filmed for a couple of days in Aintree, which is a 10-minute walk from where I live, and we also filmed on Longmoor Lane, which is right by my old school, Archbishop Beck. It was all a bit weird. I was thinking, ‘I remember walking through there as a kid, ducking and diving, and now I’m stood here with Sean Bean shooting an eight-part BBC One drama!’.

How was it linking up with Sean Bean again after working with him on Time?

He’s like a father figure. The first time I met Sean was on Time, and obviously, I wasn’t very nice to him in that! But we got on like a house on fire because Sean is a scouser basically, he’s one of us. We were filming This City Is Ours in Marbella, and remember, this is Sean Bean, BAFTA-winning actor. One of our mates was flying over to see us, and Sean says, [adopts Yorkshire accent] ‘You know Finn’s coming over? Can you get him to bring two tins of Bisto?’. And that’s Sean. Sean is one of the lads. He is so downto- earth and so lovely.

What you find with these people, who you’ve watched on telly for donkey’s years, is that there’s no ego. We’re all in it together, working long hours – getting picked up at half five in the morning and not getting home until seven at night. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not out digging holes in roads – people work incredibly hard, and I’m fortunate to do a job I love. But with these [high profile actors], they just want to have a laugh and do the best job they can.

Are there any other projects you’re working on that you can tell us about?

There are a couple of projects that we’re looking at, and there’s a role I’m desperate to play, but we’re still trying to find the right writer for it. It’s a biopic, and it would be a bit of a surprise role for me. It’s about a very famous man from Britain, a deeply troubled character. He was the first of his kind, let’s put it that way… Let’s hope it comes off.

A Thousand Blows launches on Disney+ in the UK on 21 February. This City Is Ours is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the spring

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