The all-star cast of Peaky Blinders series 2, on the red carpet at Cineworld in Birmingham (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Stars of the hit TV show Peaky Blinders arrived in Birmingham yesterday to grace the red carpet outside Cineworld Cinema in Broad Street, as fans of the show gathered for autographs and selfies with the celebrity cast.
Marking the world premiere of the second series of the hit period BBC/Tiger Aspect co-production, Birmingham-born writer and creator Steven Knight imported actors Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory and Charlotte Riley to the centre of his home city to celebrate the return of Peaky Blinders; a drama inspired by a real-life Birmingham street gang of the same name, who were based in 1920s Small Heath.
Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who plays the series protagonist Tommy Shelby, was happy to be back in the city after initially visting Birmingham to research his role with show creator Steven Knight.
“We met in the original Garrison Pub and it was quite fun and now, here we are. There’s a lot of interest here, and a lot of people, and I think it’s great,” he told I Am Birmingham.
Hollywood star Cillian Murphy attended the Peaky Blinders series 2 premiere at Cineworld in Birmingham (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Star of acclaimed Hollywood films including Inception, In Time, Sunshine, Tron:Legacy and the re-booted Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy; Cillian took a break from his performance in Ballyturk at the National Theatre in London’s South Bank to attend the glitzy premiere in Birmingham.
“It’s a tribute to Steve [Knight] really, you know, for making a show about this home town and making a show that is truthful to the origins of the story and and I think people will be really impressed by the second series. It retains all of the characteristics and integrity of the original series but is just expanded. I think it’s a little darker and more sophisticated.”
A Cillian Murphy fan with a painting of the actor as character Scarecrow from the Christopher Nolan ‘Batman’ trilogy (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Peaky Blinders fans were delighted to get autographs and ‘selfies’ with their favourite stars (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
His co-star Helen McCrory, who dominates in the fictionalised series as Aunt Polly, revealed the challenge of perfecting a Brummie accent.
“I think it’s a notoriously difficult accent because it’s an accent we don’t hear very much and that’s one of the reasons we’re all up in Birmingham today, because it’s been set in Birmingham. Steve Knight obviously comes from here and these are stories from his childhood. It’s important we come up here and celebrate it here and get a reception from the city of Birmingham before we take it anywhere else because you’ve got to find out from your own doorstep how it’s gone down.”
Helen McCrory chats to fans at the Peaky Blinders series 2 premiere at Cineworld in Birmingham (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Middlesborough newcomer Charlotte Riley debuts in the series as Tommy’s new love interest, and also appears in the show alongside her real-life husband Tom Hardy, who has been cast as a charismatic leader in the gangster drama, complete with beard and trilby.
Middlesborough actress Charlotte Riley at the Peaky Blinders series 2 premiere at Cineworld in Birmingham (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Tom Hardy also appears in the new series of Peaky Blinders, playing a charismatic leader (Photograph: BBC)
>>GALLERY: Peaky Blinders series 2 world premiere in Birmingham<<
Finn Cole, brother of fellow Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole, attended the premiere of the second series of the drama at Cineworld in Birmingham (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Supporting the seasoned and more experienced actors were fresh young talent. Joining actor Joe Cole, who continues to play John Shelby from the first series, were his real-life younger brother Finn Cole (Michael Shelby) and Birmingham teenagers Jordan Bolger (Isaiah) and Harry Kirton (Finn Shelby), the latter of whom won his role following an open audition in Digbeth earlier this year.
Birmingham teenager Harry Kirton was selected from thousands, following open auditions in the city, to appear in the new series of Peaky Blinders (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Speaking about his joy at winning a part in the show, 16-year-old Harry said:
“It’s such an amazing start working with Cillian Murphy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet Tom Hardy but even with all the cast and crew, it’s just so amazing to be on the red carpet. It’s my first time. My dad, my mum and my sister are already here and my friends and family are in the crowd too.
“I’ve asked my friends not to make a really big deal of it but they’re really happy for me. We talk about it now and again. At first, they all thought I was going to be famous even though you can’t be famous from one little thing. It’s such an amazing start for me.”
Birmingham-born screenwriter and director Steven Knight said he was proud to have brought the stars of hit TV drama Peaky Blinders to his home city (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
Series creator and screenwriter Steven Knight, whose other work includes the movies Locke, Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises, hoped to bring more talent to Birmingham following the success of Peaky Blinders.
Speaking about his forthcoming workshop at the Library of Birmingham during the Birmingham Literature Festival, he said:
“Part of it is to suggest to people in this area to write stuff and to do stuff about this place, it doesn’t matter what aspect of it it is, because it seems to have been an empty vessel for a long time.”
“We should first of all liberate the accent from whatever people think about it and just do it,” he added.
Knight hopes to create a sound studio in the city as a platform for engaging with more local talent and creating local opportunities.
.
The new series of Peaky Blinders begins on BBC Two on Thursday 2nd October.
.
Adam Yosef
.
