ON THE WATERFRONT
STEPHEN GRAHAM makes his Peaky Blinders debut as a crooked Liverpool dock worker
DRAMA
Peaky Blinders Sunday, BBC1 HD, 9pm
THERE HAVE BEEN plenty of bigname guest stars in Peaky Blinders over the years, but few have been more anticipated by the show’s fans than Stephen Graham.
His role has been shrouded in mystery ever since his casting was confirmed last year, but the wait for answers comes to an end on Sunday when he makes his first appearance in this year’s sixth and final season.
Graham plays Hayden Stagg, a union convener who works in Liverpool’s docks and has been stealing opium from the Peaky Blinders stockpile to sell in local pubs.
Upon hearing the news, Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson) takes Isiah Jesus and some members of his gang to Liverpool with orders to put the frighteners on Hayden.
‘I’ve always wanted Stephen to be in the show,’ says creator Steven Knight. ‘When we were developing a character in the Liverpool docks, I just thought there could be nobody else. He plays somebody who comes up against Tommy, but who isn’t an enemy, really.’
CURSE?
Arthur is sent to deal with Hayden because Tommy is preoccupied with the health of his daughter Ruby. This week, she is admitted to hospital with tuberculosis – or consumption, as it was called in the 1930s. But Tommy is convinced the reason for Ruby’s ill health is not medical, but due to a Gypsy curse.
When Tommy goes in search of the Lee family, a clan of Gypsies from Birmingham who he believes can help cure Ruby, his desperate wife Lizzie is furious at being left alone to watch over their sick child.
‘Lizzie has stayed very loyal to Tommy,’ says Natasha O’keeffe, who plays her. ‘She came from a very hard upbringing and maybe she worries about having to go back to that.
‘But she’s also put up with a lot over the years. She loves Tommy tremendously and she’s forever hopeful that it will work out between them –
but we’ll see…’