James Graham

James Graham joined Paines Plough as Patron in 2024, as part of our 50th birthday celebrations.

His past productions with Paines Plough include The Angry Brigade, as well as an audio piece for our Come to Where I’m From series, an idea which was then developed into his hit TV drama Sherwood.

His Olivier award winning play Dear England, about Gareth Southgate’s transformation of the national team had a sold out run at the National in 2023, transferred to the West End and was broadcast on NT Live. An updated version returned to the National Theatre before a national tour this Spring, and it is being adapted for TV with the BBC. His play Punch, opened at the Nottingham Playhouse in 2024 to rave reviews, transferring to the Young Vic in March 2025 and later Broadway, and the West End.

Other work includes Tammy Faye, having originally opened at the Almeida Theatre in 2022, it opened on Broadway in 2024, and Boys from the Blackstuff, adapted from Alan Bleasdale’s seminal TV drama, originally performed at Liverpool Royal Court in 2023 and opened at The National Theatre last summer.  James’s breakout play This House – also at the National Theatre – went on to have an Olivier-nominated sell-out revival in the West End in 2017 and it was chosen by popular vote as the best play of the 2010’s for the major theatre publisher Methuen.

James has adapted his 2017 Olivier Award winning play, Ink, for screen, which is shooting now. It is directed by Danny Boyle, and stars Guy Pearce, Claire Foy and Jack O’Connell.

James’s TV drama Sherwood – set in the Red Wall community of Ashfield where he is from –won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama and won 2 BAFTAS. It’s critically acclaimed second season aired in 2024, and its third season is currently shooting.

Other TV includes Quiz (ITV and AMC) in 2020, directed by Stephen Frears, which was one of the most watched UK television dramas of the year. And Brexit: An Uncivil War, broadcast on Channel 4 and HBO was nominated for an Emmy and a BAFTA.