Peaky Blinders star Sophie Rundle has opened up about filming a tribute to the late Helen McCrory in the upcoming final season of the Birmingham-based show.
The actress, who played matriarch Polly Gray on the BBC drama, died at the age of 52 last year after a private battle with cancer.
Sophie, 33, who plays Ada Shelby in the crime drama has said that filming the sixth season without Helen “felt wrong” as she detailed the show’s tribute to the Harry Potter actress.
She told the Radio Times: “It was a devastating thing for all of us.
“We'd all been in that same boat for ten years and for her to not be there, it all felt off-kilter and wrong.”
The cast filmed a tribute to Helen, whose tragic death was confirmed by her husband of 14 years, Damian Lewis.
Sophie continued: “So in the tribute, that's all real, that emotion. It really was a moment to think about her and what she had been.
“And this show wouldn't have been what it is without her, I really believe that. I really believe that she was fundamental to making Peaky what it is and elevating it to be more than just the script, so it was a huge loss and it was just incredibly sad.”
She added: “I don't know if that sounds oversimplified to say, but it was just incredibly sad and we missed her.”
Cillian Murphy, who plays Tommy Shelby in the gang series, echoed Sophie’s comments on the difficulty of filming the final season without their co-star Helen and hailed her as a “remarkable” talent.
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight explained that he altered the script in the wake of Helen’s cancer diagnosis.
He said: “To begin with, Polly was in the series and then incrementally bit by bit, it became apparent that there was less and less she would be able to do.
“And so in the end, we'd reached a point where we knew that she couldn't be in it at all.
“And then you have to first of all deal with the consequences in terms of the story, taking a moment to deal with the loss of the character, but then knowing that that has a reflection in the real world with the loss of the person. So it was trying to balance all of that, and I think we've done it right.”
Peaky Blinders season six premieres on Sunday, February 27 at 9pm on BBC One.
