Stephen Graham’s incredible body of work! Actor, 51, has bulked up to play a boxer by working out with weights chained to him after transforming his dad bod for Marvel film in 2020

Stephen Graham is already regarded as one of the most acclaimed actors on British television, having won critical acclaim for a series of gripping roles including This Is England and Line Of Duty.

But the 51-year-old star shocked fans on Wednesday when he revealed his incredible transformation after touring his body for a dramatic new role in Stephen Knight’s upcoming Disney+ drama A Thousand Blows.

A first look from the series showed the TV fighter’s muscular and tattooed physique as seasoned fighter Sugar Goodson in the drama, which was written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight.

While Stephen’s new look may have come as a surprise to some, it won’t be a secret to regulars at Leicester’s Premier Gym, as the star spent months working with a bodybuilder to bulk up for the role.

Social media posts from the gym and the actor himself offer a glimpse into the gruelling workouts the star endured to improve his body for the new series.

Stephen had previously said he had been “working hard” to get in shape for his latest role, jokingly adding: “Y“You better ask my wife, huh!”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Stephen has thrown himself into the gruelling preparations for a role. In 2020, he worked with a fitness trainer to play Detective Mulligan in Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

We look back at Stephen’s impressive transformation as he prepares to add another major role to his collection…

Shedding his ‘dad bod’

In 2020, Stephen joined HB Training to get in shape for his role in the upcoming Venom sequel Let There Be Carnage.

The gym posted a message on Facebook praising the star’s transformation, saying he had fit his workouts in around his “busy” lifestyle.

Stephen joined the gym in the hope of losing his so-called ‘dad bod’ and getting in better shape for his new role. He wanted to get ‘slim’ and at the same time live a ‘good and easy life’.

They wrote that as part of his preparations for the role, they had to draw up a ‘precise’ training and nutrition plan, adding: ‘He only had access to the food they could give him on the road, so we found a solution for that.’

While Stephen had not yet completed his transformation, HB Training added: ‘“He’s getting stronger and leaner every week right now. We’re not done yet. This is just the beginning, he’ll be in even better shape in the coming months.”

Stunning before and after photos showed how Stephen had lost weight and embraced a slimmer physique, which he maintained when he starred opposite Colin Farrell in the BBC drama The North Water.

His boxer transformation begins

Months before fans got their first glimpse of Stephen’s new role, the star began gruelling preparations by joining forces with Premier Gym.

He shared a video of his first day at the gym in September 2022, with the caption: ‘Training begins…’

In the clip, Stephen starts his regimen with cardio on the rowing machine, then moves on to weightlifting machines, including triceps pull-up.

The video also saw the star doing push-ups with heavy weights on his legs, before using various arm extension and bicep press machines.

Working with a bodybuilding champion

Stephen worked with bodybuilder Rob Thurston to get his body in shape, doing heavy exercises including push-ups with heavy weights strapped to him to tone his muscles.

Rob himself shared a video of the intensive training methods in February 2023, in which he describes in detail how the star had built muscle mass and lost body fat in preparation for boxing.

He captioned the post, “We’re going all out! @stephengraham has undergone an incredible physical transformation, building tons of muscle and losing body fat in preparation for his upcoming role in a new series from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.”

Discussing his new role on the latest edition of Soccer AM, he said: “We’re making a fantastic series called A Thousand Blows, written by Steve Knight.

‘It’s about two young Jamaicans who came to Jamaica in the 19th century, [among them] Hezekiah Moscow.

‘He became a great fighter, and it’s about his story and his life, how he established himself in East London.’

He added: ‘I play Sugar Goodson, I have a brother called Treacle Goodson, we’re the Goodson brothers. We’re bare-knuckle fighters, so I got in shape and everything, I learned how to fight.

“I put the graft in, just ask my wife!”

Debut of his new look

On Wednesday, Stephen showed off his muscular body for the first time in a new image from A Thousand Blows.

The image not only showed off Stephen’s toned new torso, but also offered a glimpse of the new tattoo he had inked on his chest to play his character.

Bodybuilder Rob also shared the new image on his Instagram, writing: ‘For those of you who have watched Stephen trudge along with me week in and week out for the past year… Coming soon.’

Like Peaky Blinders, creator Steven Knight based A Thousand Blows on a real criminal network. This time it’s the 19th and 20th century London gang Forty Elephants, a group of all-female shoplifters.

The story follows the adventures of two Jamaican immigrants who find themselves in the violent and unpredictable East End of Victorian London, where they make an enemy in the fearsome fighter Goodson, played by Graham.

Graham is said to have developed a rough idea for the series during the pandemic, before asking his good friend Knight, with whom he worked on Peaky Blinders, to flesh it out.

Knight told the Radio Times about the show’s development: ‘[Stephen] contacted me and said, “Do you want to write this for an hour? I said, ‘Okay then.'”