Boardwalk Empire's Stephen Graham returns to Liverpool

As Combo in This Is England, he put in one of the most truly terrifying turns in modern British cinema, and went on to rub shoulders with the cream of Hollywood in several Martin Scorsese projects. Fortunately, Stephen Graham doesn’t appear to be so scary in real life, otherwise I would have run screaming out of Jamie’s Italian the other week when the waitress sat me down at a table right next to him (Always good for a little celeb spotting with your chilled olives). And if our pals Gemma and Karen of Little Atom Productions have managed to sweet talk him into their latest In Conversation event, he must be a pretty nice guy. Phew! Graham is now confirmed as the latest interviewee in the renowned Liverpool ‘In Conversation’ series adding to an already impressive list of Liverpool talent already taken part including Paul McGann, Peter Serafinowicz and David Morrissey. The Kirkby-born star of Boardwalk Empire, Gangs of New York and Pirates of the Caribbean will talk about his life and career in the magnificent setting of the Concert Room in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall on Saturday, November 17. The audience will also be treated to specially created versions of the actor’s five favourite songs, performed live by five separate musical acts. “Stephen jumped at the chance to be interviewed on the stage of the Concert Room,” says Gemma Aldcroft of Little Atom Productions. “But when we told him about the musical element he was even more excited!  I don’t think we’ve ever had a guest say yes so quickly to taking part!  We were astonished but delighted of course.  Securing Stephen is a huge coup for us.” Graham actually agreed to take part in the series at the end of March.  However the actor was unable to commit to any date earlier than November due to his intense filming schedule with Martin Scorsese in New York over the coming months. “As Stephen was so enthusiastic, we initially discussed doing the event at the end of September when the Boardwalk Empire shoot is due to finish” says Little Atom Productions co-director Karen Podesta. “But we were told that the shoots sometimes over-run so we thought it would be safer to wait until November when Mr Scorsese will be well and truly finished with him.” Despite his phenomenal rise to stardom Graham retains an incredibly close relationship with the city of his birth. He said “I have always been so very proud of my hometown of Liverpool so I was overwhelmed and genuinely touched to be asked to take part in the series, what an incredible honour it is to be asked to sit down and have a good old chat in the beautiful St George’s Hall.  I’m just hoping that more than me mum and dad turn up!” Tickets are now on sale at £18 each via www.littleatomproductions.com website.