My culture picks: David Morrissey

10 April 2018

David Morrissey's distinguished acting career spans everything from State of Play to The Walking Dead. With his new BBC Two drama The City and The City arriving on TV screens, he shares his favourite book, TV programme and podcast.

Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol is the autobiography of Steve Jones, best known as the guitarist of punk band The Sex Pistols. Written with music journalist and author Ben Thompson, the book depicts Jones’ journey from his early life in Shepherd’s Bush, London, through the history-altering years of punk and beyond.

David explains how Jones' raw and honest account is "very funny but it’s also really tragic". Jones struggled with heroin, alcohol and sex addiction resulting in numerous stints in rehab and has stated how music, fashion and The Sex Pistols saved him from a potential life of crime.

David explains: "He went through a hell of a lot as a young man - he was almost feral in London and obviously at a time I lived through, so it meant a lot to me really."

Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol was published in 2016 by William Heinemann.

The Defiant Ones is a four-part American documentary series chronicling the unlikely partnership between rapper and music producer Dr Dre and Apple Music chief and Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine, as they come together to make one of the biggest deals in music history.

David explains: "It's a great documentary about these two men who you would think are polar opposites - certainly from the opposite sides of America geographically - coming together and the boundaries they push."

Dr Dre was born in Compton, California and Jimmy Iovine in Brooklyn, New York, both working on opposite sides of the US until their paths crossed in the late 1980s. The series was filmed over three years by director Allen Hughes and traces the two men’s transformative careers and collaborations through several decades of the ever-changing music industry.

David says: “What they put themselves through is amazing, so I found it a fascinating documentary.”

The Defiant Ones first aired on HBO on 9 July 2017 and is now available to watch in full on Netflix.

S-Town is a podcast created by the producers of This American Life and hosted by Brian Reed, which investigates an alleged murder in Woodstock, Alabama.

David explains: "It's all about this guy called John B McLemore. It's a fantastic podcast about a guy in America who's convinced a murder has happened in his town - it's a bit like Serial. It was fantastic, I loved it. I used to put it on and just walk around the park.

"It’s both illuminating and dark - it does have funny sides to it. It's surprising. It's one of those documentary podcasts where you make great assumptions about the man at the heart of it and they are slowly chipped away and knocked down. He is somebody that you think is just this redneck and as the layers start coming off him you suddenly see this very complex and great soul."

S-Town is available to listen to online.