Peaky Blinders star Barry Keoghan reveals absent father influenced role in “iconic” franchise

Peaky Blinders star Barry Keoghan has revealed how he drew on his real-life relationship with his father for his role in the movie adaptation of the hit series. The Irish actor has long been open about his childhood, which saw him and his brother housed with a number of foster families as his mother battled, and later died from, drug addiction.

And the Dublin-born actor said his experiences were a reference point for his role as Tommy Shelby's illegitimate son in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. The Netflix film is a spin-off from the award-winning TV series which ended in 2022, and 33-year-old Keoghan said the “absent” relationship between his character - Erasmus “Duke” Shelby - and his on-screen father reminded him of his relationship with his real father.

“It’s a real thing, stepping in to play Tommy Shelby’s son," he said. "Being a big fan of the show and big fan of Cillian, I wanted to be part of it and get my teeth into it. It was the relationship, for me, and it was the absence I leaned into, and the experience I have in some similar ways to my absence of my dad, and the echoes I’ve heard of him and the kind of figure I’ve made him to be.

“I felt that was, a humanity. It sort of humanises Duke for me to show those vulnerabilities. Obviously, the kid’s going to be an absolute livewire and violent and they’re all reactions, they’re all cries for help – not to justify each and every one.”

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man follows Tommy (Cillian Murphy) as he is driven back from his self-imposed exile amid the chaos of the Second World War, where he finds Duke leading violent crime gang the Peaky Blinders.

“At the end of the day, there’s an animalistic thing of the cub looking for its dad," Keoghan went on. “That’s what I brought it back to when (Tommy) is finally there. This behaviour he does when he’s not there, emulating him and trying to be like him from what he’s heard, and trying to put it on to when he is with him. I wanted to lean into that, make that a conscious thing.”

The Bafta-winning actor is a new addition to Peaky Blinders, and said “it was mad” to join a franchise that is “just iconic”. “It is nerve wracking, it is exciting and there’s sort of anticipation to it. But yeah, it was such an experience,” he added.

Peaky Blinders, which follows Birmingham-based crime family the Shelbys, launched on the BBC in 2013, with six series proving hugely popular over almost a decade.

:: Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man released in cinemas on March 6 and will be available on Netflix from March 20