Tag: Aunt Polly

Categories Peaky Blinders

Peaky Blinders veteran Sophie Rundle remembers late Helen McCrory: “It’s devastating that she’s not here to finish it”

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This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

You’ve been playing Ada for 13 years, do you look back at those early performances?

I find it so awkward watching them. Who is that child who clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing? Also, I now have my babies. So, my Peaky bookends for me are young girl straight out of drama school and being a newly postpartum mother. My second son was 12 or 13 weeks old when we did the film.

Did that make filming The Immortal Man tough?

Maybe being that tired and delirious was quite helpful but it was an enormous undertaking. The Peaky team were amazing but it’s crazy to be filmed at this time where I’m really vulnerable and my body is different and I don’t quite know what I’m doing. I am petitioning for a little ticker tape to run across the bottom of the screen saying, “This woman has just had a baby.”

Continue reading Peaky Blinders veteran Sophie Rundle remembers late Helen McCrory: “It’s devastating that she’s not here to finish it”

Categories Peaky Blinders

“The Immortal Man” Includes A Perfect Tribute To Helen McCrory

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Aunt Polly finds a way to affect the events of “The Immortal Man”

Jeremy Mathai | Yahoo News | March 20, 2026
Helen McCrory as Polly Gray wearing a red dress and smirking in a crowded room in Peaky Blinders

Spoiler warning: Read no further if you haven’t yet watched “The Immortal Man,” by order of the Peaky Blinders.

As viewers fire up “The Immortal Man” on Netflix, their elation at the next (but not final) chapter of the story may be tempered by the noticeable lack of some key “Peaky Blinders” characters missing from action this time around. Tommy Shelby’s (Cillian Murphy) estranged wife Lizzie (Natasha O’Keeffe) went her separate ways in season 6 of the show, as did Harry Kirton’s Finn. That extends to other familiar faces like Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomons, Paul Anderson’s Arthur Shelby (although the character technically does appear in shadowy flashbacks), and even Tommy’s late love Grace (Annabelle Wallis), who has continually haunted our main protagonist as a ghost throughout the series.

Writer and series creator Steven Knight opted not to bring these characters back for the spin-off film, and for good reason, but he did make room for one beloved figure in particular. The late, great actor Helen McCrory quickly turned the Shelby family matriarch Polly Gray into a fan-favorite over the last several years. Tragically, her passing in 2021 was a heartbreaking blow to the entire cast and crew, and Knight decided to write Aunt Polly out of the show altogether for the final season. Her presence continues to linger wherever Tommy goes, however, and that proves to be the case in “The Immortal Man,” as well.

Continue reading “The Immortal Man” Includes A Perfect Tribute To Helen McCrory

Categories Peaky Blinders

Cillian Murphy pays tribute to ‘dear friend’ Helen McCrory

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‘One of the greatest human beings’ he has ever had the pleasure of knowing

Olivia Burke | LADBible | March 12,2026

LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 03: Cillian Murphy and Helen McCrory during a Q&A at the Premiere of BBC Two’s drama “Peaky Blinders” episode one, series three at BFI Southbank on May 3, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

Peaky Blinders has made an almighty comeback in cinematic form – but for both the cast and the fans, Helen McCrory has left a void that can’t be filled.

Five years on from the death of the late and great actress, her on-screen family members who became her close friends have spoken of how they still feel the ache of her absence.

Speaking to LADbible ahead of the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Cillian Murphy opened up about the ‘massive loss’ he experienced following the passing of his on-screen aunt.

Viewers were first introduced to McCrory’s iconic character, Polly Gray, in the pilot episode of Steven Knight’s hit series, which aired way back in 2013.

Formidable, fiercely protective and gifted with an insight into what will unfold in the future, the matriarch of the Shelby family is unforgettable in more ways than one.

Continue reading Cillian Murphy pays tribute to ‘dear friend’ Helen McCrory

Categories Charity Peaky Blinders

Peaky Blinders Auction of Original Costumes Raises £19k for Cancer Charity

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Polly’s Coat Sold In Auction For Manchester Hospital

By Mathilde Grandjean | The Independent | May 23, 2025

An auction of original costumes from BBC TV series Peaky Blinders, including a suit worn by actor Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in the show’s final scenes, has raised £19,000 for charity.

The 48-year-old Irish actor wore the period-style grey three-piece suit in the final episode of the sixth series.

The suit, which came with a handwritten note on a piece of script found in a pocket which says: “takes off ring”, sold for £1,650.

The highest price of £3,000 was fetched by a three-piece woolen suit, also worn by Murphy as Tommy Shelby, which comes with a label reading “Tommy suit C”.

Aunt Polly’s tailored coat with stitched patterns from Series 3 Episode 4 was sold in the auction

A hat worn by Sam Claflin, who played fascist MP Oswald Mosley during series five and six, sold for £180, and a coat worn by the late Helen McCrory as Shelby family matriarch Polly Gray in episode four of series three sold for £650.

Continue reading Peaky Blinders Auction of Original Costumes Raises £19k for Cancer Charity

Categories Peaky Blinders Print Media Tributes

Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole: ‘Helen McCrory was a force of nature’

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By Helenistic | helen-mccrory.com | September 15, 2024

In a new  “What I’ve Learnt” interview with The Sunday Times, British Actor Joe Cole, who worked with Helen on Peaky Blinders,  pays a lovely tribute to her.

“Helen McCrory was a force of nature. The people who burn the brightest in this world may be the people who are taken too soon. [The actress, who played Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders, died in 2021.] It’s heartbreaking. You felt like you had to be on your toes around her, in a good way. She’d be asking you what you were doing that weekend, then she’d be cracking jokes and you’d have to have your game face on. She seized life by the balls. She was amazing with my little brother, Finn. Peaky Blinders was his first acting role. I know they were very close. She left a real mark on the world. I assumed everyone was as charismatic and funny as her, but as I’ve gone through the industry I’ve realised, oh, wait, no, that was just Helen.”

You can read the interview in its entirety here.