Worst To Best: Ray Winstone

The War Zone (1999)

The Movie: A dark family secret rears its ugly head when Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) is forced to leave London and move to Devon with his family.

Winstone Grit: Winstone steals the show as the family’s patriarch, a gobby chatterbox who could be hiding something. Easily one of Winstone’s finest turns.

Our Boy (1997)

The Movie: Woody (Winstone) and his wife Sonia (Pauline Quirke) attempt to come to terms with the death of their son, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

Winstone Grit: Intense and brooding, Winstone brings shocking emotion to his role as a grieving father. No grit here, but you’ll probably find you’ve got something in your eye.

Ladybird Ladybird (1994)

The Movie: Docu-drama from Ken Loach, with Crissy Rock as (Maggie) a woman who fights Social Services for the right to keep her children after a string of abusive relationships.

Winstone Grit: As abusive Simon, Winstone’s terrifying, flying into violent rages that are unsettlingly convincing.

The Proposition (2005)

The Movie: Captain Stanley (Winstone) makes a deal with gang member Charlie (Guy Pearce) – he can earn his freedom and a pardon if he tracks down his gang leader brother and kills him.

Winstone Grit: At the top of his game, Winstone is ragged and unreasonable, and somebody you’d think twice about crossing. He dominates the entire film.

Great Expectations (2011)

The TV Series: The BBC’s most recent adaptation of Charles Dickens’ tome. Winstone appears as Magwitch, while Gillian Anderson is Miss. Havisham.

Winstone Grit: Emerging from the moors filthy and wild, Winstone makes for a fantastically imposing Magwitch. Ralph Fiennes will have quite a job to match him in this year’s new movie adap.

Scum (1977)

The Movie: Alan Clarke’s tough crime drama, which examined the lives of young offenders serving time at Borstal, where no attempt at reforming the inmates was made (at the time).

Winstone Grit: In his debut role, Winstone is effortlessly menacing as troublemaker Carlin, lending the film as much as grit as it demands – and then some.

Robin Of Sherwood (1984)

The TV Series: Richard Carpenter’s retelling of Robin Hood, with Michael Praed as the princely vagabond, and Winstone playing Will Scarlet.

Winstone Grit: Alternately haunted, vicious and stubborn, Winstone wears numerous hats as Scarlet, and creates a fully-rounded character that really shows off what he can do.

The Departed (2006)

The Movie: Martin Scorsese’s remake of 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs , starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. Winstone plays Arnold ‘Frenchy’ French.

Winstone Grit: Despite the likes of Jack Nicholson getting in on his gangster territory, Winstone practically steals the show here as a ruthless meanie.

Sexy Beast (2000)

The Movie: Retired safecracker Gal Dove (Winstone) is pulled out of retirement by callous gangster Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), leading to a mammoth heist.

Winstone Grit: Underplaying it to perfection, Winstone is the ideal counterpoint to Kingsley’s venomous villain – a cockney wideboy with real low-key brilliance.

Nil By Mouth (1997)

The Movie : The violent tendencies of Ray (Winstone) causes friction in his family, not least when he kicks his drug addict son Billy (Charlie Creed-Miles) out onto the street.

Winstone Grit: Drunken, abusive and haunted, this is entirely Winstone’s show and he doesn’t disappoint, delivering his finest performance to date, and the one that all his other roles are measured against. Simply phenomenal.