Line of Duty star Stephen Graham signs up for Peaky Blinders – but it’s on hold due to coronavirus

A GALAXY of Hollywood stars have already appeared in Peaky Blinders — and now Stephen Graham is the latest to join the list.

The British actor, who was in Martin Scorsese’s gangland movie The Irishman as well as Line Of Duty, was signed up to start filming the sixth series before coronavirus halted filming.

Stephen said: “I was supposed to be starting Peaky Blinders but that has been put on hold indefinitely.

“My agent spent a lot of time putting that together.”

Stephen follows in the footsteps of big-name stars Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Adrien Brody who have previously joined the cast.

Show creator Steven Knight cast Stephen as Jacob Marley in last year’s miniseries A Christmas Carol — and he revealed before the last series of Line Of Duty that the star was top of his wish list for the BBC1 drama.

The last series saw Birmingham’s Shelby family enter politics and face fascist Oswald Mosley, played by ­Hunger Games actor Sam Claflin.

Writer Steven said: “The amount of people who have come to us wanting to be in it is quite astonishing.

“So what I’ve tried to avoid before is turning it into spot-the-celebrity, because I think it’s quite distracting.

“Someone like Adrien Brody is a great actor — obviously, you want to put them in it.

“But I think I’m going to relax and open the gates a bit because there’s some amazing people who want to be in it.”

Well, he’s now got one of the best.

…And it’s leaky blinders Tom

A MASKED Tom Hardy buys groceries looking like movie alter-ego Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.

The actor, taking the precaution against coronavirus, donned similar gear for his role as the supervillain in the final part of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

That mask didn’t go down too well with some audiences, who reckoned they couldn’t understand a word Tom said.

For now, Tom is living the more conventional life of a Londoner, closer to his telly roles including gangster Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders.

I doubt I’ll imagine Tom as a hardman again, though, after seeing him shopping for leeks.

Nest second series ‘strong possibility’

THE creators of BBC1 thriller The Nest say there is a strong possibility it could come back for a second series.

The drama, starring Martin Compston and Sophie Rundle, ended last week and built quite a ­following on Sunday nights.

Speaking at the BBC Writersroom Q&A, The Nest’s writer Nicole Taylor insisted she only meant to write one self-contained series.

But she added: “That was the plan.

“And I said to someone recently, ‘I never understood why writers wrote a second series where there’s a first series that concludes ­satisfactorily.’

“But now I do, because I miss the characters so much.

“I could write for them for ever. There’s definitely more story there.”

Fingers crossed – anything with Martin as the star is always top telly.

Chris “lesson” in crisis

CHRIS Packham has issued an environmental rallying cry, urging the public to learn the “horrible, harsh” lessons of coronavirus.

In an exclusive interview, the conservationist said the pandemic proved we have the ability to take drastic action against the climate crisis.

Chris added: “We have to do the same sort of things to protect the environment – not pretending we don’t have the capacity to do it.

“When we are out of lockdown, there will be many far-reaching opportunities for us to make positive change off the back of this.

“If we don’t take this opportunity, the horrible, harsh lessons we are learning now will be wasted.

“That would be a tragedy.”

Chris, whose new show Primates begins on Sunday on BBC1, warned that mass extinction could happen if we don’t act now.

He said: “Many primates are critically endangered.

“We’ll lose thousands of species.”

Maxxx is knifed

CHANNEL 4 has pulled sitcom Maxxx after just one episode amid dire viewing figures.

Just 86,000 people tuned in for the show, which debuted earlier this month on E4 –  included those on catch-up.

Normally, shows in the slot get triple the ratings.

C4 head of comedy Fiona McDermott confirmed they would restart the six-parter, about a shamed boyband star, later this year.

She said: “We champion brand-new comedy and are incredibly proud of this show.”

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