Shane Warne reportedly asked the producers of Peaky Blinders if he could make a cameo on the hit BBC show, only to be turned down due to his teeth.
The Australian cricket legend was given a touching farewell at his state funeral at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today, at which a eulogy detailed the 52-year-old’s hopes of a Peaky appearance.
Shane died earlier this month after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Koh Samui, Thailand.
Retired AFL star Aaron Hamill told the 50,000-strong crowd that the late leg spinner was a “binge Netflix watcher” and the Birmingham-based period drama was his favourite show.
The former St Kilda captain said: “He said, ‘I've got this great idea,’ as he always did, ‘I've sent off an email to the producers of Peaky Blinders [asking for a cameo].”
But the producers reportedly turned down the cricket legend, as Aaron continued: “So he did all that and he rang back and said, ‘I got the email back. It said, ‘Dear Shane, thanks very much. We love your enthusiasm, but unfortunately porcelain veneers weren't around in Birmingham in 1931.’”'
Shane was such a fan with Peaky Blinders he even took to wearing a flat cap in the last years of life, just as star Cillian Murphy’s character Tommy Shelby does.
Shane’s family accepted the offer of a state funeral from Victoria premier Daniel Andrews. His close friend Eddie McGuire hosted the service and said ahead of the memorial that it would be “one of the great events in the history of this city and this country”.
Hollywood star Eric Bana was the first to speak at the memorial, looking back at Shane’s famous life, describing the “rockstar cricketer's” rise, after which Shane’s father Keith offered a eulogy, revealing the family's heartbreak at his devastating loss.
He tearfully said: “Our family loss of a loved son, a loving brother to Jason and a devoted father to Brooke, Jackson and Summer. And the world lost a much-loved cricketing legend whose feats on and off the cricket field will go down in history for all time.
'”Looking forward to a future without Shane is inconceivable. We do take comfort in knowing that Shane packed more in his life of 52 years, five months and 19 days than most people would in two lifetimes.”
Shane’s daughter Summer, 20, took to the lectern later in proceedings, tearfully saying: “You will always be with us, dad - just not in the way that we had hoped.
“You lived 100 lives, Dad. You never took anything for granted and you made sure that you lived every day to the absolute fullest.”
