Peaky Blinders: Cillian Murphy reveals COVID stopped Helen McCrory filming final scenes

Virgin Radio

21 Jan 2022, 17:01

The period crime drama will end after its sixth series this year, and Cillian Murphy has promised fans Helen McCrory is ‘still very present’ in the show. 

Helen, who played Polly Gray in the beloved series, passed away aged 52 in April after battling cancer. 

According to Tommy Shelby star Cillian, the coronavirus pandemic, and subsequent shut-down of all filming, meant Helen wasn't able to reprise her role. 

In an interview with Empire Magazine, Cillian revealed: “What I always feel sad about is that we were about to shoot and then the pandemic happened and we had to stop. If we had shot then, Helen would've been in the show, and that makes me feel sad.

"It's a huge loss; it's hard to comprehend it. Because she was the matriarch of the whole thing. As the character, but just also as her personality. But she's still present in series 6.”

Cillian shared how appreciative he was that show creator and writer Steven Knight kept Helen ‘very very present’, but ‘we couldn't quite fathom it all as we were making it, you know?’

Fans have been waiting for the gangster drama to return to screens following the nail-biting cliffhanger to series 5 in 2019, but very little is known about what will happen next for the Shelby family. 

The BBC released a brief teaser to whet everyone's appetite for the returning series, and if that teaser is anything to go by, the sixth instalment will be worth the wait. 

Something to tide PB fans over with in the meantime is the Peaky Blinders stage show, which is coming to Birmingham this year. 

Called 'Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby', the new show was adapted for the stage by creator Steven Knight.

He teamed up with the Rambert dance company for the new show, and it's due to open at Birmingham Hippodrome on September 27.