“Like a lot of people, England and their tournaments have sort of been chapters in my life,” says writer James Graham.
For writer James Graham, football and drama share unexpected common ground.
The creator of *Dear England* posits that both disciplines can unite audiences – be it around a major tournament or a compelling narrative – particularly in times of division, prompting reflection on collective identity.
“The drama, the operatic scale of these huge World Cup tournaments, has always captivated me,” states Graham, also known for his work on Sherwood and Quiz.
He found the England men’s team’s progress under Gareth Southgate “incredibly inspiring,” particularly noting their historic World Cup penalty shootout victory.
Dear England, a new four-part BBC drama based on Graham’s Olivier Award-winning play, offers a fictionalized account of Southgate’s (played by Joseph Fiennes) transformative tenure, including the introduction of psychologist Pippa Grange (played by Jodie Whittaker) to address the team’s penalty woes by tackling mindset and player pressure.
As Southgate, portrayed by Fiennes, remarks in the series: “I think there’s something really wrong here…”
In the series Southgate (Fiennes, right) takes the team to an army training camp with psychologist Pippa (Whittaker, left) to get the players working together
The series also explores the racist abuse directed at players like Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka following their penalty misses in the Euro 2020 exit.
The drama’s title references the opening of a heartfelt letter penned by Southgate, articulating that the team’s conduct, both on and off the field, and its ability to inspire and unite, matter more than mere results.
Graham expressed that the letter and “the aspiration to be decent and to be good” deeply moved him.
Jodie Whittaker, renowned for her roles in Doctor Who and Toxic Town, emphasizes the story’s timeliness ahead of the upcoming World Cup in July, stating that “no matter the outcome, those young men and that entire coaching staff deserve the utmost respect.”
Actor Joseph Fiennes, recognized for Young Sherlock and Shakespeare in Love, who embodies Southgate, adds, “Hopefully this gives us an insight into what it’s like to take a penalty, to lose a penalty, the ramifications of that.”
He continues, “I don’t want the team to lose, but I think as a nation, as players, as fans, sometimes we have to learn to lose and get better at it because that’s an inevitability of the game. And I hope that people can do that with respect.”
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Meet the actor playing Sir Gareth Southgate
The series begins with Southgate’s own penalty miss in the Euro 1996 semi-final, an image Graham vividly recalls from childhood, witnessing the player walking off the field in distress.
The subsequent events inspired Graham – how Southgate, “who missed that penalty… broke the World Cup penalty curse.”
For Graham, this “is a story of real hope, where something was not working, men were struggling, they looked at it, they fixed it, it improved, and we all felt better about it.”
“If you can’t find that inspiring, I don’t know what you can,” Graham says about Southgate’s work with the England men’s team
Graham highlights the unifying power of both football and drama, but draws attention to a crucial disparity: while football offers avenues for working-class individuals to flourish, the same isn’t always true for drama and the arts.
The writer, who delivered the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival in 2024, cites a report indicating that only 8% of those employed in film, television, radio, and photography come from working-class backgrounds.
Reflecting on his working-class upbringing in a Nottinghamshire mining village, Graham remembers the significance of arts access as a “shy” child who found even PE daunting.
The writer considers himself “lucky” that his secondary school had an attached theatre, adding, “The only reason I’m sat here enjoying chatting to you is the accident of having a really good drama teacher in my comprehensive school.”
“Sometimes if you just don’t think that culture is for you, or that a career in the arts is for you because you’ve never met anyone who’s done it”, Graham says
It was there that Graham wrote, found inspiration, and eventually led the first group from his town to the Edinburgh Fringe, a major international arts festival.
Graham acknowledges that this isn’t the case for everyone, and that access to creative subjects like drama and music has “really diminished.”
The writer expresses frustration with the “slow progress” in restoring arts education to the curriculum.
Graham points out that the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) excludes art subjects from its core curriculum, which he feels sends a message that “philosophically, the school is telling you there’s no value. So as parents, you go, don’t pick music. It’s not core. We’re being told it’s not important and it is.”
In 2025, following a curriculum review in England, the government outlined plans to remove the EBacc, aiming to provide students with greater choice.
Under the new framework, arts GCSEs will be given equal status, external alongside humanities and languages.
A Department for Education spokesperson states that “we’re revitalising the curriculum to ensure young people are given the chance to experience the arts, while maintaining a strong academic core,” further noting the government’s £13 million investment in the National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
You can watch Dear England on BBC One from Sunday 24 May at 21:00 BST and on iPlayer.
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