Adolescence star Stephen Graham had an emotional moment when reflecting on some of his career highs during a recent interview.

On Wednesday morning, the Bafta nominee paid a visit to Capital Breakfast, where hosts Jordan North and Sian Welby asked him about his past work with Hollywood legends like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese.

“I had posters on my wall, of Taxi Driver, and different actors, that my dad had got me,” Stephen recalled, imploring the hosts to “imagine what that call was like” when he told his father he’d landed a role in The Irishman.

“It makes me want to go already,” Stephen remarked, pointing out he was close to tears.

As he recalled telling his dad that he’d been invited to collaborate with Martin Scorsese for a second time after 2002’s Gangs Of New York, he noted: “Oh, I’ve gone!”

“My dad, he proper backed me,” Stephen continued. “And my mum. They supported me throughout everything, do you know what I mean? All the struggles you go through and everything. And you can imagine, anyway, it was unbelievable.”

“We didn’t want to make you cry today!” Jordan insisted, to which Stephen said: “That’s alright, you’ve got my contact lens out.”

Last year, Stephen opened up more about working with some of his Hollywood heroes.

“In all those films I’d watched with my dad, and all of those classic gangster films, there’s a moment when someone gets ‘made’ and they become a member of the family,” he told The Guardian.

“And when I got a hug off [De Niro and Scorsese], I felt like I’d become a ‘made man’. It was surreal.

“You have to understand this kid from Liverpool who grew up in a block of flats, and now all of a sudden, he’s there with these two people who have been icons. You never think you’re going to meet Al Pacino. You never think you’re going to meet Robert De Niro. Your head – it doesn’t enter your head.”

Just a few weeks ago, Stephen voiced his disapproval that working-class families like the one he grew up in are too often depicted as “miserable” in TV dramas.

“Things can be hard but there’s also a lot of laughter,” he told The Times. “My childhood was full of it and being able to represent where I’m from is integral to me.”

He continued: “Too often I’ll watch stuff and think they’re treating the working class like an art project. It’s very condescending. ‘Ooh, look at the poor!’ But I’m proud to be this mixed-race working-class kid from a block of flats.”