‘Dear England’s James Graham On Why The Players Should Miss His Show

Dear England creator James Graham is chasing big ratings for the BBC adaptation of his hit stage play, but there’s a handful of people who he’d be quite happy to give it a miss.

Speaking at the launch of of Dear England in London and with the soccer World Cup on the horizon, Graham said the subjects of the show, the England soccer team, might choose to do something else come next Sunday night.

“I wouldn’t want them to watch it, I want them to really focus on what they’re doing,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for disrupting our best chance [of winning the World Cup] in a long time.”

Graham had the same attitude towards the players and manager Gareth Southgate when the play was in the West End and big tournaments were taking place. “I’m glad [Southgate] didn’t come and see it during the final tournaments because he is the storyteller and those players are the storytellers, and their story shouldn’t be corrupted by my version of it.”

For Dear England lead Joseph Fiennes, who plays Southgate, England’s most successful soccer manager of the modern era, it is more important for the fans to see the show than the players. “The players will get so much if the fans can see it and understand the way in which James has delivered the lives, fictitiously, of these young men and the extraordinary pressures they face.”

Fiennes recently met Southgate for the first time, describing him as a “remarkable man and an absolute gent.”

Graham is also a huge fan of the famously waistcoated England alum and he named the play after Southgate’s emotional open letter to the public, which he penned just after the pandemic.

The sprawling BBC show about the past decade in English soccer, which comes from The Crown producer Left Bank, will move beyond the play and episodes three and four contain fresh material with new manager Thomas Tuchel. This makes it “feel like you are advancing the story forward as the story was changing,” Graham said.

Were England to end 60 years of hurt and finally bring the World Cup home, Graham said Southgate should “take equal credit” with Tuchel for turning the England team around after he took over in 2016.

The World Cup kicks off in a few weeks in North America. The BBC shares coverage of the tournament with ITV. Dear England launches next Sunday.