Helen McCrory
Actress, Mum and Philanthropist
Categories Peaky Blinders Print Media Tributes

The Chap: RIP Helen McCrory

Remembering an inspiring encounter with Helen McCrory

Gustav Temple | April 17, 2021 | The Chap

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As a tribute to the late actress, who died aged 52 on 16th April, Gustav Temple recalls an inspiring encounter with Helen McCrory in 2019, on the eve of Series 5 of Peaky Blinders.

I interviewed Helen McCrory when the fifth season of Peaky Blinders was about to air in 2019. From such a huge star of stage and screen, I expected the familiar ‘luvvy’ personality and being called ‘darling’ interspersed with quotes from Shakespeare, but Helen was the complete opposite. When asked whether we had accurately described the type of cigarettes she smoked in character as Aunt Polly, she waved her hand airily and said, “Oh, who cares? Let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story.”

Continue reading The Chap: RIP Helen McCrory

Categories Interviews Peaky Blinders Print Media

Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory: ‘Aunt Polly is more dangerous than ever’

Helen McCrory thinks this year’s series could be her character’s best yet

Helen McCrory thinks this year’s series could be her character’s best yet… Don’t read until you’ve watched the first episode as contains spoilers!

Bullets flew and blood splattered as Peaky Blinders made an action-packed return to our screens tonight on BBC2. With the Shelby family fighting for their lives as the mafia closes in, the carnage seems unlikely to let up any time soon and Helen McCrory thinks this year’s fourth series is the best yet!

“I couldn’t believe it when Shelby family were all arrested at the end of the last series,” says Helen, who plays Peaky Blinders matriarch Aunt Polly. “I didn’t know where we were going to go next, but Steven Knight is such a great writer and he managed to get himself out of a really tight corner. When those scripts arrive I tear them open because I can’t wait to see what’s coming next and this series really is a step up.”