Joseph Millson (Video); How Abuse Shapes a Life—and How Stories Help Us Survive

In this conversation Naomi Murphy and David Jones are joined by Joseph Millson, actor, writer, filmmaker and singer, currently appearing in The Phantom of the Opera in London’s West End. He’s also the author of Miller Rose Roberts, a novella that moves between psychological realism and something more mysterious while exploring trauma, memory, identity, love, and recovery. In this conversation, Joseph talks about why creativity matters to wellbeing, how writing became a kind of journaling for him, and why he prefers ambiguity over neat explanations. They also discuss resilience, grief, anger, motherhood, and the role storytelling can play in making sense of painful experience. Key topics In this episode, Joseph argues that creativity is not reserved for artists, because everyone uses creative thinking in some form, from mechanics to doctors to chefs. He shares the “right hand and left hand” idea: one side of life handles rent, family, and responsibilities, while the other side protects creative expression and imagination. Joseph explains why actors often feel the urge to move into writing and directing, because acting is usually interpreting someone else’s story rather than telling their own. We discuss how writing, especially journaling, can function as emotional processing even when no one else ever reads it. Joseph describes Miller Rose Roberts as a seven chapter novella built around seven year cycles, with the protagonist revisited at ages 7, 14, 21, 28, and beyond. He shares how the book blends realism with magical realism, including the recurring ringing in Miller’s ears that becomes an instruction to walk away. They talk about ambiguity in art and why Joseph prefers not to over explain mental health, grief, or the meaning of Miller’s experiences. Joseph reflects on writing female characters, saying he is fascinated by women’s experiences and by people who carry pain privately rather than sharing it. The conversation also touches on anger management, emotional numbness, and the idea that people need an outlet for grief and pain instead of suppressing it. Joseph closes by explaining how actors can access deep emotion safely through imagination, scaffolding, and play, without relying on unhealthy emotional recall. Timestamps 00:00 - Introducing Joseph Milson and the themes of creativity and wellbeing00:37 - Why creative work and day jobs often coexist01:37 - The “right hand and left hand” model of creative life03:33 - Why acting is a uniquely difficult art form04:32 - Writing as mental health support between auditions05:57 - Creativity as something everyone does07:47 - Why Signs of Life emerges from struggle08:13 - How Joseph moved from acting into writing and directing09:14 - Work and Other Four Letter Words and the value of self-reflection10:33 - Lockdown, screenwriting, and the start of Signs of Life11:33 - Grief, kindness, and the idea behind the film12:58 - Why actors eventually want to tell their own stories15:41 - Journaling as a form of creative processing18:42 - Writing from a woman’s perspective22:30 - The caravan park, the name Miller Rose Roberts, and the book’s origin23:55 - Seven year cycles and the structure of the novella24:49 - Tinnitus, the desert, and the magical realist premise26:51 - Leaving space for multiple interpretations29:29 - Grief, psychosis, and privacy as a defense mechanism30:36 - Anger management and the need for emotional outlets32:15 - Plant medicine, journaling, and looking at what hurts33:39 - Writer’s block and finding the ending35:08 - Why Joseph chose to write a novella rather than a full novel37:02 - Stephen King’s influence and Joseph’s admiration for novella length38:12 - Why resilience is hard to explain and impossible to reduce41:12 - Motherhood, loss, and the book’s emotional core44:08 - The deliberate use of “the mother” as a distancing device46:46 - Researching the 1980s, cigarettes, and period detail48:24 - Storytelling as a way of healing and narrating our live