PEAKYS SPEAK!
Star Cillian Murphy and director Anthony Byrne on the new series
Where do we find Tommy at the start of the new series?
Cillian: Well, it’s 1929, the time of the Wall Street Crash, and things go badly wrong for the Shelbys in that.
Again…
Cillian: [Laughs] Yep, again. They lose a lot of money. So, that’s where we find him. He’s an MP, and it’s two years after we last met him. He’s kind of struggling a little psychologically. I mean, he always is, but he’s in a tough place emotionally.
What about the people who are dependent on him? As the series goes on, he’s responsible for more people…
Cillian: Yeah, the family is as complicated as always, and success and wealth brings its own baggage. And I think with Tommy trying to balance being an MP and a legitimate businessman, alongside being the leader of a criminal operation, makes for brilliant drama.
Speaking of family, how’s Arthur?
Cillian: [Laughs] Erm, how is Arthur? No, he’s still the same. His relationship with Linda is on a knife-edge, and there’s a couple of things that happen that force the animal within – as he calls it in the show – to emerge quite forcefully.
Anthony, it’s unique that there’s a different director each series. Did you go back and watch the whole show?
I was a fan of the show anyway. But you have to kind of leave it because you can’t carry it forwards, you have to jump into it and find your own voice. You just go in and do what you feel is best to serve Steve Knight’s great scripts. They’re a gift to a director, and they’re a gift to actors.
What’s it like working with Helen [Mccrory]?
Cillian: I adore Helen as a human being and as an actress. We’ve been doing this for a long time, so I think there’s an unspoken thing between us, which I really enjoy. And she [Polly] is the character that Tommy trusts the most. ■