Stephen Graham in Peaky Blinders
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Peaky Blinders season 6: Stephen Graham had unexpected reaction to working with Cillian Murphy

The esteemed actor admitted to some nerves setting in

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Stephen Graham makes his long-awaited appearance in Peaky Blinders season 6 tonight.

He stars as Haydn Stagg, a man caught stealing from the Peaky Blinders gang – something that is usually punishable by death.

Tommy Shelby discovers that dockworkers are stealing opium “by the bucket load” from the Salt House Docks in Liverpool.

Stephen Graham in Peaky Blinders episode 3
Stephen Graham as Haydn Stagg in Peaky Blinders comes nose to nose with Arthur Shelby (Credit: BBC)

Union convenor Haydn Stagg is organising the sale of the opium.

However, when Arthur Shelby travels to Liverpool to give Haydn a PB beating, Haydn somehow manages to talk his way out of it.

A WWII veteran like Tommy and Arthur, he knows exactly what to say to Arthur.

Stephen Graham will likely appear again in episode four, five and six of Peaky Blinders.

Stephen Graham on Peaky Blinders season 6

The Time star spoke of his joy to be working with Cillian Murphy as he appeared on the Chris Moyles Radio X show.

Read more: Will there be a Peaky Blinders film? Lastest cast, plot and release details

“Cillian’s such a wonderful actor, he’s amazing and what a lovely, lovely, lovely fella,” Stephen said.

“To the extent, Chris, where there was a couple of moments I had to pinch myself a couple of times because I was sat there in a scene with him, doing a rehearsal and stuff and I’ve kinda gone, ‘Ahh that’s Tommy Shelby!'”

Stephen Graham in Time - what's he said about Peaky Blinders?
Stephen and wife Hannah (Credit: Martin Evans / SplashNews.com)

“Fan-girling” each other

Stephen’s wife Hannah, alongside him for the chat, joked that Stephen and Cillian “were fan-girling each other so badly” on set.

“He’s just an absolutely lovely fella and a phenomenal actor,” Stephen added.

Asked by host Chris whether he freaked out at all, Stephen said he had a method to curb his nervousness.

“Well, what I managed to do was I managed to do that before they said action.

“I had a proper look round and then it was like, ‘Alright lad, best put your footy boots on here and your shin pads, let’s get ready, here we go, on the pitch!’. But at first [it was like], ‘Ok, oh wow!’”

Read more: Are Peaky Blinders real and what does the name actually mean?

** This article, originally posted on June 8, 2021. It was updated on March 13, 2022, with new details about Stephen Graham in Peaky Blinders.

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Nancy Brown
Associate Editor