In a sentenceStephen Graham says almost nothing and still makes us feel we ought to check on him
Joseph (Stephen Graham) is struggling to hold himself together. Pain he has kept buried is becoming harder to contain, but he has few words for what is happening to him. The opening episode stays with his distress, with pauses and expressions carrying much of what he cannot say. Anna (Helen Behan) and Dinah (Niamh Algar) also feature in this four-part drama from Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne. Joseph’s difficulty speaking about his hurt shapes a story that approaches trauma through his behaviour, without immediately spelling out everything behind it.
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Stephen Graham is reason enough to watch this difficult, intimate drama. The storytelling is sometimes too oblique, but his near-wordless distress keeps us watching through the slower passages.
The Virtues is an absorbing four-part drama, though its storytelling sometimes tests our patience. Shane Meadows directs, and writes with Jack Thorne, keeping our attention on Joseph, played by Stephen Graham, when he has little he can bear to say. The immediate attraction is the actor: we want to keep watching him even when the programme makes watching uncomfortable. Anyone hoping for a briskly explained problem and a reassuring response should choose something else.
Stephen Graham gives Joseph a weariness that does not need a speech to make sense. In the near-wordless stretches, his face keeps us looking for a sign that he can steady himself, and the lack of an easy release becomes hard to bear. We felt distressed watching him try to contain his pain. He makes the effort of holding himself together seem exhausting. There is so little dialogue to explain it away.
Nick Gillespie’s cinematography does its best work by keeping our attention on that effort. It is a restrained contribution, and we are grateful for images that do not keep announcing how serious the subject is. Jane Levick’s production design is similarly unobtrusive; we never find ourselves inspecting the surroundings while waiting for the acting to resume. The visual approach suits a drama in which we spend so much time looking for a change in one man’s expression.
Matthew Gray’s editing gives those stretches time to develop, although we sometimes wanted a firmer cut. The pauses make us attend to small changes in the performance, but occasionally another pause arrives after we have already understood. That is where the deliberate pace begins to feel laboured. PJ Harvey’s music is most effective when it leaves us room to sit with the discomfort. It suits the acting, though we never needed much encouragement to feel anxious for Joseph.
The scripts by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne are most convincing when they leave room for awkwardness. Joseph’s difficulty communicating gives the drama much of its force, and explanatory dialogue would have weakened this part of it. Still, the oblique storytelling occasionally leaves us uncertain about what is happening. We would have welcomed a little more clarity without demanding a speech explaining every silence.
The danger for this kind of television drama is that suffering becomes the whole reason to watch. Shane Meadows mostly avoids that by letting Stephen Graham make Joseph difficult and vulnerable at once. We wanted to understand this particular man, and that curiosity mattered as much as sympathy. Even when we questioned the pace, we remained interested in what he might manage to say.
We recommend it for an evening when close attention feels possible. The acting deserves that much, even when the writing makes us work harder than it should. We would leave a little quiet afterwards, rather than ask another programme to improve the mood immediately.
Most critics respond warmly to The Virtues, with praise centred on Stephen Graham’s performance as Joseph and the emotional force of Shane Meadows’ intimate storytelling. Graham’s ability to convey vulnerability and repressed pain, often with few words, earns approval even from the dissenting review. The favourable accounts also value Meadows’ restraint, with several finding that the quieter approach gives the drama’s treatment of trauma and manhood its force.
The reservations concern how difficult that intimacy is to watch and whether the storytelling holds together. The Telegraph admires the opening episode’s raw emotion but finds its closeness almost unbearable at times. The Times offers the clearest dissent, describing an overambitious, messily told series whose silences and oblique rhythms take time to adjust to. The spread is largely positive, then, with one substantial reservation about the writing and structure rather than the central performance.
The critic calls the series a bruising and brilliant drama that feels like a triumph of art over life for Meadows. They single out Stephen Graham’s virtually wordless performance as a man scoured out by life for particular praise.
Read the full review →The critic describes the opening episode as masterfully written and another Shane Meadows masterpiece. They single out Stephen Graham’s near-perfect performance and the extraordinary pacing for praise.
Read the full review →The critic calls it a spellbinding meditation on trauma and manhood, noting how the drama marks a sharp turn for Meadows toward quieter, more intimate storytelling focused on repressed pain. Stephen Graham's performance as the fracturing Joseph is singled out as spellbinding.
Read the full review →The critic praises Stephen Graham’s raw emotional power in the gut-wrenching opening episode but notes the drama is so emotionally intimate it is almost unwatchable at times.
Read the full review →The critic finds the series an overambitious endeavour, messily told, that takes time to acclimatise to its odd rhythms. They single out Stephen Graham’s show-stealing performance for praise amid the pained silences and oblique storytelling.
Read the full review →The critic praises the mature, powerful character drama, highlighting Stephen Graham's career-best performance as the vulnerable Joseph, and Meadows' restraint in storytelling.
Read the full review →
TyrannosaurAnother difficult encounter with damaged people, made bearable by patient, unsentimental performances.
A Woman Under the InfluenceFor similarly uncomfortable attention to a person struggling in front of others.
Secret Sunshine · not reviewed yetA harsher, more expansive account of grief, belief and the limits of consolation.
The Quiet GirlA gentler Irish drama that also trusts silence and small acts of care.
The Singing Detective · not reviewed yetTelevision that gives buried hurt room to emerge, though with considerably more mischief.
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