'I didn't know Peaky Blinders was a big deal until I got a starring role'

A nine-year-old girl from Bradford has said she did not realise Peaky Blinders was a "big deal" - until she was cast in the gang saga's new movie.

Bonnie, a student at Bradford's Articulate Drama School and Agency, appears in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, alongside young stars from Stagecoach Garforth.

Bonnie makes her feature film debut as Ruby Shelby, daughter of Tommy, played by Hollywood heavyweight Cillian Murphy.

She said: "After I had done the film everyone was like 'Oh my god you're in Peaky Blinders' and I was like 'Oh, is it a big deal?'"

Lucas, 14, from Stagecoach Garforth, appears in scenes alongside Murphy, and said the Irish actor was "inspirational".

"I've never done much like this before and when I found out I would be on the same set as these actors and this amazing show that's been turned into a movie, I was amazed," he said.

"He can switch from his character in the movie to how he is in real life so easily, it's really inspiring."

Bonnie said she was nervous on set because of the need to retake scenes and fearing she would do something wrong.

She said: "My friends didn't really know what it was, but my teacher Mrs Sudgen knew what it was and she said 'You are a star, we've got a little actress'."

Her mum, Fran, said Bonnie got into acting through her older sister Bethany.

"She got an opportunity to self-tape for Happy Valley and they needed another sister so we said 'oh, we've got Bonnie' but she was only four and I thought she was a little bit young.

"But we did the self-tape, both the girls, and we got the call within a week and they said they've got the part in Happy Valley - and it stemmed from there."

Sophie, 16, was the only student old enough to watch the film, which is rated 15.

She said appearing in the dramatic scenes was "crazy".

"We were told: 'You're going to be running away from this massive bomb that we're going to set off.'

"So they would shout down a microphone '3, 2, 1 bomb' and we would have to drop and duck," she said.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man follows gang leader Tommy Shelby as World War Two breaks out.

The film also features Barry Keoghan as Duke Shelby and Tim Roth as John Beckett.

Nine-year-old Annie said she enjoyed making friends on set, but not the "itchy" costumes.

"I enjoy that you get to see stuff behind the backgrounds that you don't see in a film when you watch it on TV," she said.

"I wore an olden-days outfit with a little hat and old shoes and it all felt really itchy."

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