"Very interesting": When the late Helen McCrory and Cillian Murphy talked about exploring their Peaky Blinders characters ahead of Season 2

BBC's period crime drama Peaky Blinders concluded its final season three years back, but the buzz is still alive to date. Cillian Murphy's iconic Thomas Shelby role has won millions of hearts over the years (despite being a cult antihero)—thanks to the impeccable creative presentation and flawless on-screen presence of the Oscar-winning star.

However, it is also worth mentioning how the late Helen McCrory's Aunty Polly was the heart and soul of Peaky Blinders. The character's sheer determination, fearless aura, and commanding presence got the well-deserved justice from the late star. Back in October 2014, right before the premiere of Peaky Blinders Season 2, Helen McCrory and Cillian Murphy sat down with HeyUGuys to discuss their feelings about further exploring their character arcs.

It is at this point that the late Helen McCrory mentioned:

"And I think Steven Knight has really trusted that his audience will go with them and he's taken them into a very, very different place in the second series. So yeah, it was, you know, very interesting and exciting."

When the Peaky Blinders stars shared their experiences about moving ahead with the hit BBC crime drama's second chapter

In a 2014 interview with HeyUGuuys, the late Helen McCrory and her then Peaky Blinders co-star Cillian Murphy opened up about how they felt about moving forward with their pivotal roles. When asked whether it "was a wonderful opportunity" to explore their characters "even more" in the second season, Helen McCrory replied, saying that they are a part of a "golden age of television."

As she added, they played the characters for hours at a stretch (especially as it was a long drama show) and naturally got hooked on the story, thereby wanting to explore their arcs with even more enthusiasm and excitement. Seconding her statement to HeyUGuys, Cillian Murphy mentioned:

"Yeah, I mean, I concur with all of that. It's a great privilege, you know, and to get to play characters in a long format, like, well, 12 hours in this case for us, it's a real gift."

Cillian Murphy was further asked if Peaky Blinders being a show rather than a movie was an advantage for them to work on their characters. To this, he responded, saying that serialization depends on the kind of story being made.

As per his statement to HeyUGuys, some might "need to be compressed," but when it came to a period drama like Peaky Blinders, Murphy said (delivering his thoughts):

"And this story, because it's a saga, it really needs that, needs television to tell this story."

In the same interview, the Peaky Blinders stars also mentioned researching Birmingham during the post-World War I period before the drama was recreated by Steven Knight. As per the late Helen McCrory's statement, she also studied a lot about "the lives of working-class women," which helped her to portray herself as the iconic Aunt Polly.

Trending

Stay tuned to Soap Central for regular updates on daily soaps, TV shows, and movies.

Also Read: "All we had to do was connect": Brittany Snow shares her feelings about shooting intimate scenes with The Hunting Wives co-star Malin Akerman

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback