Village can play a blinder as TV drama’s backdrop

Entertainment: Team behind hit gangster show plans to film in north-east

A hit television gangster drama will begin filming in a north-east village this summer.

Actors and crew from the BBC series Peaky Blinders are to shoot new scenes in Portsoy over five days.

Stars Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson and Helen McCrory are expected to stay at the Seafield Arms in Whitehills, five miles along the coast, during filming at the end of June.

The decision to use the location comes

“Much of it is still secret and we’ve been told not to say anything”

after the crew were impressed by the way residents handled the filming of the 2016 remake of classic comedy Whisky Galore.

Many of the sea shots were taken along the harbour and locals were cast as extras alongside actors Gregor Fisher and Eddie Izzard.

Peaky Blinders is a crime drama set during 1920s, and will see its fictional Birmingham crime family try to smuggle alcohol into the US during Prohibition.

A source told the Daily Record: “Much of it is still secret and we’ve been told not to say anything.

“But the Peaky Blinders production team have made several visits to Portsoy and think it will make an ideal setting.”

Residents hope there will be a financial boost for the area due to the drama.

The Seafield Arms in Whitehills announced in an online post that it had received autographed images of the cast from the production team.

The post read: “Well, as some will know our rooms are full at the end of June as they are booked out by the Peaky Blinders. And look what arrived today.”

Although the series is set in Birmingham, the majority of its scenes have been filmed in and around Liverpool and Leeds as well as several other parts of Yorkshire.

A number of scenes have also used the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, as a location.

The open-air museum has exhibits dating back more than 200 years and viewers will recognise it as Charlie Strong’s scrap metal yard.

A spokesman for the production said there was not “anything further” to be confirmed at this stage.

SCENE STEALER: The Scottish Traditional Boat Festival is held at Portsoy harbour, which was used as a location for Whisky Galore in 2016

Cillian Murphy in the BBC period drama Peaky Blinders