Matthew Collins now - What happened to Stephen Graham's character in The Walk-In?
The ITV true crime drama charts his extraordinary story.
At the centre of ITV true crime drama The Walk-In is Matthew Collins, a man with an extraordinary story.
After spending much of his youth entangled in Neo-Nazi ideology, he later turned his back on his former beliefs and began dedicating his life to fighting against fascism.
Who is Matthew Collins?
Collins was initially the south London organiser for the National Front and a volunteer at the British National Party's head office. His commitment to the cause was unwavering. But that all changed following an incident at Welling Library in south east London in 1989.
Around 40 men, one of whom was Collins, descended on a group of mostly elderly women who were taking part in an anti-fascist meeting, with a number of the victims requiring hospital treatment.
- Read more: The Walk-In review: Stephen Graham true crime drama is a fascinating but unsettling watch
"I was a f**king coward to have done such a thing," he later wrote in his book Hate: My Life in the British Far Right (via The New Yorker, 2019). "I began to realise that this was what race wars were about, the innocent attacked and their dignity destroyed."
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A short time later, he contacted Searchlight, an anti-fascist magazine, and supplied the publication with insider information about the circles he was running in. Those anonymous phone calls continued for a number of months before he became a spy for the magazine, spending time with Combat 18, which was affiliated with the National Front, and Northern Irish paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association.
Collins later expressed his desire to distance himself from that world – a libel case, which was settled out of court, had threatened to expose him a couple of years prior, which would have posed a serious threat to his life. The magazine's editor agreed to help facilitate his exit but before that, he was asked to take part in a documentary focused on Combat 18, which aired in 1993. Collins remained off-camera and his voice was disguised, but a number of his peers were still able to identify him, which forced Collins into hiding. He travelled to Australia, where he remained for a decade.
He eventually returned to the UK, where he was asked by Searchlight to appear in a documentary titled Dead Man Walking. It aired on the BBC in 2004, with Collins appearing as himself. He continued his work for the magazine and in 2007, he collaborated with journalist and activist Nick Lowles on a division of the publication titled Hope Not Hate, which developed into an organisation of its own.
Collins is now its Head of Intelligence, part of which involves overseeing a number of moles tasked with doing the work that he previously carried out.
He's also a contributor for The Guardian and has two books to his name, the aforementioned Hate, and Nazi Terrorist: The Story of National Action, which informant Robbie Mullen, a key figure in the undercover operation to prevent the murders of Labour MP Rosie Cooper and Detective Constable Victoria Henderson, co-wrote with him.
His third book, The Walk-In - Fascists, Spies & Lies, has just been released.
During his interview with The New Yorker, Collins revealed that the far-right remained a threat to his own safety and that of his family, with individuals he encountered both in the '90s and more recently unable to forgive his disloyalty.
His past experiences within the far-right and his work since, have also taken a toll on him – Collins recently told The Guardian that he began experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder in 2020, which affected his memory.
"I couldn't read any more, kept forgetting my phone numbers, the pin number on my bank cards," he said. "I even forgot my children’s names, where I was living."
He has since sought out therapy.
"I'm not going to live forever doing this job," he told The New Yorker. "Either the lifestyle will kill me or a Nazi will."
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