Cillian Murphy reveals secret to making audiences fall in love with villainous Tommy Shelby

It’s been nearly 13 years since fans first met Tommy Shelby, the Peaky Blinders’ ruthless and violent but menacingly charming gang leader who has been cemented as a fan favourite TV icon thanks to Cillian Murphy’s nuanced performance.

Tommy is back in new Netflix film The Immortal Man to sort out the reckless younger generation of Peaky Blinders, now led by his illegitimate son Duke (Barry Keoghan) during World War Two.

A true anti-hero who audiences have watched maim others with his razor-brimmed flat cap as well as torture and murder victims – and even betray his family – over the course of six seasons, Tommy was last seen on horseback riding off to an ambiguous future as the TV series wrapped in 2022 (1934 on screen).

But despite the acts of brutality and bloodshed that Tommy has continuously been part of – and often instigated – fans still love the supremely complicated character.

Ahead of his much-anticipated return to the role, I ask the man himself, Oppenheimer Oscar-winner Murphy, as I sit down with him and new Peaky co-star Tim Roth, why that might be.

The 49-year-old star initially suggests he’s unsure what myriad reasons make up ‘the whole’ of Tommy’s attraction to folks before giving most credit to long-form television.

‘It allows you to really explore all the light and shade, all the different complexities that characters can have,’ he says.

‘And despite the fact that this is gangster and stylised and genre and heightened, there’s a great deal of humanity in it. Like, if the character gets injured, he stays injured. There’re consequences from the violence. Steve has woven in politics; characters die and it’s heartbreaking.

‘And I think if you spend that length of time with a character, you will begin to invest in them in an emotional, kind of intimate way, which you don’t always get with films – you get it in a different way. But with long form telly, it’s unusual, and there’s an ownership that the audience has which is kind of interesting.’

This is gangster and stylised but there’s a great deal of humanity in it

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‘You can put a character under a microscope and spend time with their weaknesses,’ adds Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs actor Roth. ‘You can do a whole episode on one aspect of a character and investigate it, whereas you don’t necessarily have the time to do that cinematically.’

Unsurprisingly, Murphy hasn’t credited any of Tommy’s popularity to his own performance, which has helped the show break through to enjoy remarkable success on a global scale  

‘It’s very humbling when it does, but I do think that’s the fans doing,’ is all he’ll modestly say on that point.

How Peaky Blinders and Cillian Murphy made Birmingham cool again

The Cork-born star has also been responsible for performing some major PR on Birmingham’s behalf in recent years, mastering the Brum burr of Shelby – who lives in Small Heath – with quiet flair.

Locals have been ‘very kind’ in their feedback on his efforts over the years, Murphy acknowledges.

‘Originally when we started doing it, I would leave voice messages on [series creator] Steve Knight’s phone because he’s a true-blue Brummie, and he would let me know if I was getting close.’

However, the 28 Days Later actor made the decision from the start ‘to not lean into it’.

‘There’s always been this kind of comedic version of the Brummies,’ Murphy explains, with Roth supplying Auf Wiedersehen, Pet as a prime example.

‘[So I wanted to] avoid all of that and to make him cool and mysterious, just like Birmingham has all of that – it’s totally there – but it took Steve to show the world.’ (Roth rests some responsibility on Solihull-raised comedian Joe Lycett too, whom he ‘loves’.)

Spending so long with Tommy – and returning to him over the years – has also taught Murphy ‘discipline’, he says.

I wanted to avoid the comedic version of the Brummies

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‘We shot the TV show at a very, very fast pace, shooting six hours in the same amount of time you shoot a feature film. And we always had real cinematic ambition for the show, and the production values we always wanted to keep extremely high – and I think we managed to maintain that.’

‘I don’t really go into parts looking to learn stuff – obviously it happens as you play them,’ he continues, ‘but I can just say that I’m immensely grateful for it.’

‘To be given that level of quality of writing for that length of time, and for the story to have gotten richer and deeper, more satisfying for us, and for the fans that have been so loyal and stayed with the show.

‘It’s been a huge part of my life,’ he adds.

Introducing Tommy Shelby’s new enemy, Tim Roth’s Nazi ally Beckett

Oscar nominee Roth, who starred last year in Sottish samurai Western Tornado and has also appeared in Planet of the Apes and The Incredible Hulk, plays Tommy’s new adversary Beckett, a Nazi-sympathiser who is ready to help win the war for Germany.

Beckett, a chillingly casual yet ruthless antagonist and another fascist for the Peaky Blinders to tackle, is ‘a lovely fellow’, quips Roth.

The Cockney character was initially written ‘very differently’ though, with Roth suggesting an overhaul.

‘He was from a different class and [had a] kind of aristocratic vibe to him, a militaristic vibe, and I just thought it’d be nice to play him like a geography teacher,’ he explains. ‘I think that brought a possible element of the fatherly masquerade to it, which maybe slightly became a reality for the character somehow.’

Beckett ends up working with Duke in the hopes of using the gang’s well-established criminal links to aid in his mission for the Nazis.

For 64-year-old Roth, the wartime setting resonates due to the experiences of his father, who was 17 around then – and he relished the cinematic ambition and schedule of The Immortal Man.

‘You really felt when you when you were there, it’s almost payback for the loyalty of the fans and the enjoyment that they have. It’s quite an extraordinary place to be,’ he adds.

[Tommy and Beckett] are equals and opposite sides of the coin

Beckett is perhaps Tommy’s most challenging opponent to date, and the pair share similarities in their measured yet violet approach.

‘They kind of circle around each other, and the two times they encounter each other is very explosive and visceral, but there’s not that much interaction – and yet each has a huge influence on the other,’ shares Murphy.

‘I think initially Beckett would have liked to have done business with Tommy. He ends up with Tommy’s son, and he has to kind of recalibrate in terms of how he’s going to get this thing done. But I do think they feel like sort of equals and opposite sides of the coin.’

This allows Tommy the chance to shine more, I suggest, the harder his adversary is to overcome.

‘That’s in the writing too,’ points out Roth. ‘You need to create a big enough mountain for these guys to climb over, to conquer. And I think [Knight] did such a good job in writing that.’

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is in UK and US cinemas from today. It streams exclusively on Netflix from March 20.

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