James Nelson-Joyce Interview

Hot on the heels of his stellar turn as menacing inmate Johnno in BBC prison drama Time, James Nelson-Joyce is in trouble once again.

The Orrell Park-born actor is currently shooting Stephen Merchant’s dark comedy about a group of people thrown together when they’re ordered to do community service.

We caught up with James to find out more about the project, a less than typical route into acting, and his portrayal of Bez in the new Happy Mondays biopic.

Words by Lawrence Saunders

How did you first get into acting?

It was a bit of luck really. I was just a normal kid, playing football and that. I fancied my English teacher and the only way I could get her attention was by putting on an accent when she’d ask someone to read aloud in class. I didn’t know at the time that I was dyslexic and I felt uncomfortable reading, but I did it just to show off.

She told me one day about the Speaking & Listening exam. I was happy to do it because it meant I didn’t have to do any coursework! I went in and did a monologue in front of an examiner. It was a story about a young boy whose dog had just passed away. I finished my speech and the lady examiner was upset and crying. She told me she’d recently lost her dog not that long ago. I gave her a big cuddle.

Anyway, I thought nothing of it until about a month later when I was walking down the corridor – messing about with my mates. The head of English, who was quite fearsome, popped her head out of her office and said ‘Joyce, come here’. Straight away I was like ‘It weren’t me! It weren’t me!’. ‘Weren’t what?’ she said, and I was like ‘Whatever I’m getting the blame for!’. It turned out that I’d been given the highest mark ever in the North West for my Speaking & Listening exam.

Again, I thought nothing of it and when I was leaving school my English teacher asked what I was going to do. I told her I’d probably go and work on building sites with my dad. She thought I should have a go at acting but I was like ‘Kids like me don’t do acting – me mates are going to rip me!’. She sent me to The City of Liverpool College and from there I went to drama school in London. It was all just luck!

Before all this happened at school, were you interested in film? Were there any particular actors you looked up to?

The only person I idolised as a kid was Jamie Carragher. I wanted to be him. Kids today are probably doing step-overs like [Cristiano] Ronaldo but I just tried to copy Jamie and command the pitch. When I got to community college, other students were telling me to watch things like This Is England, The Street and other Jimmy McGovern dramas.

Until then I didn’t know there was working class stuff on television. It really opened my eyes. Stephen Graham and Pete Postlethwaite were two fellas who I could relate to. It was that ‘everyman’ kind of feel.

Is it true that you met Stephen Graham before your acting career properly started?

I was at a Nando’s in London and he was there with his wife (actress Hannah Walters). I plucked up the courage to go over and speak to him. I told him my name, that I was an actor who’d just finished drama school, and how, being a lad from Liverpool, he’d inspired me. I walked away and then 10 minutes later Hannah came over and said ‘Look, you’ve got something about you. Here’s my email – please let us know when you’re in something’.

When I’d been in an episode of Casualty or something like that, I felt I couldn’t email Stephen and tell him about it – I didn’t want to bother him. But when we did Little Boy Blue he gave me a little nod and said ‘You’re that lad from Nando’s’. Since then he’s looked out for me.

One of your first major acting performances was in Little Boy Blue. Were you at all nervous about taking the role of James Yates?

I read the script and it was the real deal – written by an amazing writer called Jeff Pope and directed by Paul Whittington, who I worked with on Cilla. When I went to audition for the role [of Yates], I thought ‘I can do this. I know this world. I’m not far from it’. I wasn’t scared or nervous [about taking the role]. I wanted to do Rhys’s story justice.

Making sure his mum and dad were proud [of it] was first and foremost in my mind. I couldn’t have done that job half-hearted. I had to do my research and do the brave stuff but that’s your job, that’s the beauty of acting. You do get to do things that you as a person can’t do, wouldn’t do, and would never dream of doing in real life.

You’re currently shooting a new BBC/Amazon Prime series with Stephen Merchant in Bristol called The Offenders. Can you tell us a bit about the premise of the show?

It’s about people from all different walks of life doing community service together. There’s an ‘IT Girl’, an older bloke, a ‘street boy’ who I play called Spider. [The show] is really cool. I think it’s my first proper comedy. It’s totally different from anything Stephen has ever written before. It has those little humorous tones, but it is quite dark in places.

Stephen is very meticulous. He knows what he wants from a scene and you keep going until you find it.

The Offenders features Academy Award-winning actor Christopher Walken in his first lead British television role. Have you got to meet Christopher yet?

Yes, I met him briefly. He’s a dead nice fella – really sound. It’s weird because I’ve been fortunate to meet some ‘proper’ stars but you do have that imposter syndrome. I still think someone is going to come up to me on set and say ‘You’re crap, you don’t deserve to be here and you’re cheating everyone’. That’s the beauty of people like Stephen [Graham] and Sean Bean, who I worked with on Time. As soon as you’re on set with them, you feel at home.

They welcome you straight away and take away all that nervousness. Your work automatically becomes 10x better.

Some actors aren’t as approachable, but at the end of the day they are there to do their job and they don’t want to talk about the match last night or how much someone won on Tipping Point – and that’s fine. When you leave one set and go to another, you have to find where you are again.

You’re also set to portray Bez in a new movie about the Happy Mondays. How have you gone about preparing to play such a unique character?

The pandemic has put the movie on hold for the time being – until they can do it properly. The director, Matt Greenhalgh, wants to do the band’s story justice. That’s why production is on hold. It’s a cracking piece.
I’m still doing my research for the role and was fortunate enough to meet Bez.

I was invited to a Happy Mondays gig at the Roundhouse in London. Me and my mate got to go backstage. Bez was like ‘Ahhh mate, I can’t believe a scouser is playing me!’, but he gave me a big hug and was cool. I just want to get stuck in now and get on it.

There’s a side to Bez that audiences won’t have seen before. Everyone knows the larger than life character who can party, but he’s also loyal, caring, honest and loving. These are things I want to portray in my performance. I’m not doing a parody of Bez

You’re represented by Jane Epstein, the same agent who looks after Liverpool thespians Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham. How much of a help is it having Jane on your side?

That’s a hard one. It’s like Jürgen Klopp selecting you for Liverpool FC and you’re in the squad, and you get opportunities in training. My opportunities are the auditions, but then it’s down to my
talent to get the job. Jodie and Stephen are incredible.

If I’ve got a quarter of their talent, I’ll be okay. I’m not going to lie though, I do feel the weight [of the pressure]. I’m looking at Jane’s client list and seeing all these superstars, and I’m thinking ‘I’m just little old me who watches Tipping Point and has a Nando’s!’.

Jane is incredible, all you’ve got to do is look at what she’s done with Jodie. She’s a very hard-working woman and she gets me big auditions. Sometimes I won’t get [the roles] because I haven’t got a big enough profile but just the fact that I’m getting in the room and having the opportunity is all I can ask for. Jane can’t make me get the job – I’ve got to do that with my own ability.