Harry. Hi. How you doing?
Hey, I'm good.
Am I right in thinking you were a Brummie?
I am. I am.
Though my accent may have wavered a little bit, but
you've lost the accent just like I have.
Yeah, I mean,
pardon?
Where is Birmingham.
Are you from
Selly Oak, basically.
No, no, not
really.
Oh, well, whereabouts?
Down by the university Oh, okay.
Yeah, I'm sort of more towards just a bit more towards, Weoley
Castle. Okay, well, that's.
I live in London.
Sure. bit further up the Bristol road.
Oh, my God.
What a small world I know.
Yeah, well, um, so I think.
What are the chances that anyway, we're going to talk about Peaky Blinders
You've been in the show since
season two, so it's a really long running role.
I wondered if this was actually your first role
after leaving college or whether, in fact,
you were still at college when you started.
Yeah, I was actually.
I the whole process sort of started when I was 15, sort of.
Yeah, no, 15.
And I filmed this first season
when I was just finishing year ten actually.
So I hadn't even gotten to college and then, yeah,
so it's my first of all ever and it's been my obviously my most prominent role
ever since
Yeah.
So over the years, how often have you pinched yourself?
Because, of course, you find yourself in not only a long running role,
but an incredibly success full series
and during the final season as well.
Yeah, I um,
I have, I've grown as a person
as my character's grow, so it was quite a natural
...
so stupid technology.
Yeah.
I've progressed as the storyline has progressed
as an individual and it's been such a pleasure and
yeah, you say, you know, you sort of
you do have moments where you pinch yourself, but it's, it's
become quite I don't mean to pretend you
sense at all, it's become quite a normal thing
to sort of reflecting, you know, what the fuck did I just do today?
Like what just happened?
But I don't know I just, like I said, I've been doing it for like seven years
now, so I just, I just take it
as it comes and I'm
I've fallen more in love with the art of acting.
And the sort of byproduct of it is the whole like
you have like recognition but then there's the whole,
the opinion of like, fame and fortune, which has been very gradual for me.
It still is very,
very small.
Very small compared to what my costars have.
And it's just been an honor to simply play ball with them, as it were,
and have the pleasure of,
in my opinion, go into one of the best acting universities in the country,
if you want to say that.
So after so many years,
how does it feel to be saying goodbye to it?
I mean, it's been a part of your life.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.
As you said, it has it has been a big part of my life.
I I've in quite a good routine, like when Peaky comes around,
when it did come around again,
I you know, I always started a process to go back into that world.
I of sort of saying some of the early I don't really watch any visual content
and all about my like podcasts and my books
and nothing visually
contaminating to call it that, even though obviously
I do take inspiration beforehand off of those things.
But it's strange.
It's very strange.
It was a strange season for film for many reasons,
but it was, it was it was ever
so beautiful. It
and I'm just, you know, with all due respect, I want to leave it behind now.
I want I want to I want to give it the glory that it is
the most, you know, but just as a practical and
as a practical standpoint
and just a long game against me as an actor,
I don't want to get pigeonholed for obvious reasons.
And I don't want to be, you know, in my mid-to-late twenties
and still only known as Finn Shelby,
I don't think a lot of people even know my name that those who really had.
But I get it, you know, I do the same thing with the director.
So, you know, so and so
like like I said, I don't I don't want to pigeonhole myself to it.
I love I've loved this journey so much and I've learned so much
and just want to go out there and sink my teeth into something else
and actually do something completely different.
I want to do quite a maybe quite a modern piece, quite a gentle role
just really flip it on its head and see what I can see.
If I can surprise myself
because I was talking to Steven Knight
and he was telling me about the forthcoming films.
Well, so are you going to be having a part in that?
Because he tells me that it's set very much in the Second World War.
And of course, Finn wasn't able to wasn't old enough
fighting in the First World War.
So I thought, oh, maybe he's going to be, you know, called up for military service.
And actually, I couldn't see him wanting to do that.
Yeah, I
like the way you phrase it.
I like the way you say so because.
Because no,
I think, you know, he's seen he's seen the pain and trauma
and just like internal
turmoil and tolerance and all of that stuff, like that
mess, that noise that his brothers have lived with
and and
subconsciously raised him on the
the sort of shattered ethos that they have in life.
And that has built
I think
I've I think Finn's always had a longing to be
I don't repeat myself, but like, I he's always
wanting to be one of the Knights of the round table, shall we say.
And I think when he gets that, the seat never gets warm.
It's always cold.
It's always just like unwelcoming.
And I just like to say he didn't go to war.
And I've done I think he's his mind's perhaps intact enough
and now he's got enough common sense even though didn't go to school.
So he's not the smartest, but he still will book smarts,
but he still has the sort of the spark and the.
No, how the Shelby seems have they just seem to all
have a wits about them
and yeah, he just doesn't want to perhaps he doesn't want to go down that route.
And if there was a
a role in the Army, if there was a if that did present himself,
which I'm sure it well, I'm not sure if he
you know, he probably could
he probably could hide away somewhere somewhere and not enroll, enlist or
whatever this.
But I think you had to but I think the way they are with the police and let alone
the army and church and, and stuff, I'm sure Tommy would,
would like swerve it for him or,
or he would relapse and really go back to that hole on the scene.
You've taken his own story.
You know, it was a lot of boys
like to be like their fathers, as my brothers were my parental roles.
Like I said, there's a
very, very fact it's a parental role.
But I think yeah.
So to bring that to conclusion, it's just
if presented himself, I'm not sure if he would want to.
I'm not sure if his brothers would actually let him
because of what they've left with.
He's he's actually had quite
a lot of loss in his life in terms of people that he's had close
relationships with his mother, his father, his older brother.
I'm wondering how he's going to cope with losing Polly in this coming season.
Yeah, I think
specifically for Finn as the character and
I think
her presence was almost necessary
because, though Arthur is hands on and loving in many ways.
He's not the smartest.
He's not the best father.
And obviously,
Joe Cole's character.
John is obviously hasn't been around for many years,
and they had an even closer relationship in many ways.
And then Tommy
is the only one to really bestow some proper guidance of wisdom.
And also, you know, not only does he dish out orders,
he dishes out rules to live by whether they be.
Yeah, I think he did a good enough job.
I think he did a good job in going on in his own mind.
But Aunt Polly just seems to be an age
of the female roles in his life were always the things grounding him.
And I think allowed him to be a slightly more gentle, more rounded person,
a being off of
violence, but a being of wit.
And and I don't
I just don't think that
that was sorry.
That was very much needed this season.
And that the journey he goes on this season and unfortunately
he didn't receive that as us, didn't I, as an actor?
She was she was always very
present and very, very loving and gave a lot of guidance to me.
So it was it was very strange and it was a
it was a shift of dynamic on set, I think.
And alongside playing Finn, I gather you've had a part time
job in a café as well.
Have you done that throughout?
I was wondering if it was something that perhaps kept your feet on the ground
while you were in such a long running artificial world, if you like.
Yeah, I think,
you know, I haven't come from anything like that.
I have my two lovely parents who have done
an amazing job of raising me and my opinion but
I just naturally have a grounding environment,
I think in my family and my surroundings.
Nobody
I don't think for many generations has ever been an artist in my family.
So no, it was a weird world to them all.
I think they've taken it in the best way.
And at time I think I'm good with myself.
You know, I kept myself grounded enough
that just like I said, for the principles in the past taught me.
But having things like tough jobs and just the friends I seem to have,
the nature of my my personality, I I've been
very aware of what fame can do to somebody, though.
I've felt very, very small winds of the typhoon
that could be you know, I've I've seen it take a disaster just like made them
pretentious in general.
So I think having the cafe
jobs just came from my own will , I've noticed, wants to make some money.
I just wanted to experience some some I'm quite a physical person,
even though I'm very whimsical mind because I love to...
I'm an artist through
and through and through sort of thing, but I love getting my hands dirty.
Money needs to be made.
My name is to be made and read the rest is to be paid and all of that.
But I haven't wanted to a cafe in three or so years, but I have no ego about it.
I think now.
Now I'm realizing that
the pattern of
like my own mind and just the, the, the,
the industry of the arts is quite all over the place.
So having something like a cafe job, this isn't that practical.
So it might start, you know,
it might make my own brand or lean more into my photography or something,
something that has my, my choice and my will
to do a bit smarter, maybe a do some bitcoin or that rubbish
so we could see you anywhere basically.
Yeah. It's been great talking to you.
Thank you so much for your time and lots of luck with the final season.
Thank you. Have a lovely day.
Thank you. Cheers.