'We must tell stories from neglected East Midlands'

Playwright and screenwriter James Graham said the arts did not always reflect a true picture of the world

"Everyone has a right to be heard and be reflected in the stories that we tell on screen and in plays," says James Graham.

The playwright and screenwriter spoke of the "neglected" East Midlands as his play Dear England opened in Nottingham.

The East Midlands is among the regions with the lowest levels of public investment in the UK, official government data shows.

This week, the government announced up to £5bn of investment for "overlooked" communities.

Graham grew up in the coal-mining town of Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, an area where his crime drama, Sherwood, is set.

"I'm so proud to come from where I come from, because I wouldn't be a playwright without it," he told the BBC.

Last week his Olivier Award-winning play Dear England officially opened at Nottingham's Theatre Royal, where Graham landed his first job manning the stage door some 20 years ago.

Dennis Bottomley played by David Harewood in series two of Sherwood, filmed outside Nottingham's Council House.

Now, he says using his "power and opportunity" to highlight what he said were "underrepresented" communities and parts of the country is important to him.

"It's common knowledge out there that the arts don't always reflect the world we're living in, particularly around class," he said.

Graham told BBC Radio Nottingham he owed his success to his old school theatre, which has not been included in plans to redevelop the school and could be knocked down.

"I went to Ashfield School in Kirkby-in-Ashfield and it was a big old comprehensive school at the time, in an area that was politically socially deprived because of the closure of those [coal mining] industries. It didn't have a confidence.

"We had drama teachers that just really believed in working class kids having a creative life, not just following a path that was probably more traditional."

But Graham doesn't pretend to know the experience of everyone.

"I don't presume for a second to be able to speak on behalf of everybody for my community because I've got my own view of the world, all you can do is embrace your ignorance and speak to people about their story," he said.

Graham's storytelling has seen him return to his roots in the East Midlands.

In the second series of his TV show Sherwood, he tapped into Nottingham's recent troubled history of gang crime and local rivalries.

Meanwhile, his 2024 play, Punch - which opened at the West End in London on Friday and on Broadway in New York earlier in September - was based on the true story of Jacob Dunne, who killed James Hodgkinson with a single punch in the city in 2011.

"To hear the Nottingham accent and people talking about the Meadows and Trent Bridge in New York, it's incredible," Graham said.

'The power of drama'

As well as sharing the stories close to home, Graham is also known to explore themes of British politics and national identity.

In one scene of Dear England - which follows the story of Gareth Southgate as manager of the England's men's football team - Southgate opens out a St George flag and asks the team to share what it means to them.

"He dug down into the mindset, the culture, the attitude, and the environment of these young men," Graham said.

Of the social media-born movement that has seen St George flags tied to lamp-posts and painted on roundabouts across the country, Graham said: "Some of those people are just truly patriotic or are really proud of their community and some have a more malign motive.

"Both things can be true."

He added the world was facing an "empathy deficit" and "unlike social media" where he said nuance was often missing, drama had the "power to find the space or scene" to talk things through.

He said: "To me, it can be a positive and inclusive thing.

"The power of drama is that it can bring people together through a story."