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Peaky Blinders: Helen McCrory on playing Aunt Polly as brutal family saga returns

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Helen McCrory doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to Peaky Blinders

by Alan Shaw | August 29, 2019 | Sudnday Post

 August 29, 2019, 12:01 am
Natasha O'Keeffe and Helen McCrory in Peaky Blinders
Natasha O’Keeffe and Helen McCrory in Peaky Blinders

Helen McCrory doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to Peaky Blinders.

You’d think McCrory, who plays Aunt Polly, the matriarch of the Shelby family, would be used to the brutality of their on-screen crimes.

But, at a screening of an episode from the new fifth series, she had to look away at one point.

“I, as Helen, can’t watch it,” admits the 51-year-old Londoner.

“It’s disgustingly violent. And it should be. I think it’s much more disturbing that somebody slashes somebody’s face, or somebody shoots somebody, and it’s all just the end of it.

“It should be horrifying, and you should have the people who are responsible for the violence unable to self-medicate or having mental health problems, or all the things that do happen to people if you kill other people. It is not a natural state of affairs.”

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Categories Interviews Peaky Blinders Print Media

Helen McCrory Interview for Idler Magazine

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Work, Family, Washing Up

by Tom Hodgkinson | Idler Magazine | August 28, 2019

I have met Helen McCrory before. She and her husband Damian Lewis are often to be seen at festivals, going to talks as everyday punters. In fact she gave me a compliment one year after I’d given a talk at Port Eliot Festival. I didn’t recognise her at first and just said “thanks”. As I wandered off I suddenly realised, “hang on, that was Helen McCrory!” Mutual friends told me that she and Damian were fans of my books, and I do remember them mentioning The Idle Parent in an interview. So I was delighted when her PR called and asked if we’d like an interview.

Tom Hodgkinson How did you get involved with Peaky Blinders?

Helen McCrory When they first approached me, they said: ‘Would you like to play Aunt Polly in this gangster drama set in Birmingham?” And I was like: “No.”

Continue reading Helen McCrory Interview for Idler Magazine

Categories Interviews Peaky Blinders Print Media

The Custard TV: Our chat with Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory

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Aunt Polly is Back

Michael Lee | August 25, 2019 | The Custard TV

As we build up to Series 5 of Peaky Blinders at the end of the month, Our Michael Lee sits down with members of the cast to find out what we can expect.

It’s the day of the Peaky Blinders series 5 launch in London. Before the screening, we gather to chat with the cast. Helen McCrory bounds in after the designated meeting time “I’m so sorry I’m late! I was being interviewed“. She takes a look around her “He’s not here now so I can blame him!”

Where do we find Polly at the beginning of the series?

“It starts with the crash and they lose a lot of money very very quickly and she’s back on the streets- not literally! You see her enjoying all the luxuries and then you see her realising she doesn’t have any left.

Continue reading The Custard TV: Our chat with Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory

Categories Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media

Helen on Peaky Blinders and Why Damian Lewis Isn’t Asked How He Juggles It All

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Ageing, Sexism, and the Joy of Family Holidays in a Camper Van

by Julia Llewellyn Smith | The Times | August 12, 2019

Gosh, but having lunch with Helen McCrory is a daunting experience — a bit like sitting down with a more intelligent version of Princess Margaret or the seventh, undiscovered Mitford sister. Even though she’s a dainty thing, McCrory has extraordinary presence, crackling with the energy that has suffused her stage performances at the National, the Donmar and the Almeida and that underscored film roles such as Harry Potter’s Narcissa Malfoy. It has also made her the star of TV dramas such as Penny Dreadful and Peaky Blinders, the long-running BBC period crime drama that we’re here to discuss.

Her commanding aura is boosted by her Pathé-newsreel husky tones and by her marriage to another superstar, Damian Lewis, of Homeland and Billions fame. The couple are self-described “party animals”, frequently photographed looking Burton-and-Taylor glamorous on red carpets, and I imagine she would make the most brilliant hostess — fun, engaged and full of droll bons mots and anecdotes.

Continue reading Helen on Peaky Blinders and Why Damian Lewis Isn’t Asked How He Juggles It All

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Helen McCrory reveals the Peaky Blinders scene that was just too much for TV

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Aunt Polly’s original reaction when son Michael came home was very different in Peaky Blinders

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Remember that scene where a hungover Polly (Helen McCrory) stumbled home in her party outfit from the night before, only to find long-lost son Michael (Finn Cole) waiting on her doorstep?If McCrory had her way, the reunion would have been a lot more stomach-turning – but the actress’s first take was vetoed. Continue reading Helen McCrory reveals the Peaky Blinders scene that was just too much for TV