Cillian Murphy hails 'humbling' love for Peaky Blinders as film is released

Cillian Murphy has said it's "wonderfully humbling" to see the passion for Peaky Blinders, as he reprises his long-running role as Tommy Shelby in a feature film.

The Irish actor has returned to play the Birmingham gangster in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, 13 years after he first took on the part in the BBC TV series.

"There wasn't promotion at the beginning. The show came out, and then very slowly it became this phenomenon, and it was down to the fans," he told BBC One's Breakfast.

"It's a wonderfully humbling thing to know that these fans have such an investment in the characters. And I've always felt like this [movie] is a return on your investment."

The Immortal Man comes four years after the sixth and final series of the TV show. In the intervening period, Murphy has won an Oscar, a Bafta and a Golden Globe for Oppenheimer.

New additions to the world of Peaky Blinders include Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan, who plays Shelby's son Duke, plus Dune actress Rebecca Ferguson and Reservoir Dogs actor Tim Roth.

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight said the cast "couldn't be better".

"I think we have got the cream," he told Breakfast's Charlie Stayt. "When we approach pretty much anybody they say yes. That's true of actors, music, everything, because Peaky has an effect."

The fans "have been so great, and they've been the source of an enormous amount of energy and confidence for us to go forward", Knight said.

"We see how loyal they are, how passionate they are, the tattoos and all kinds of things that that have been going on spontaneously, not because of promotion or marketing."

The film will be on the big screen for two weeks before it's released on Netflix on 20 March, and Knight said he wanted it to have a cinema release partly to give those fans a chance to get together.

"What we wanted to do was to make a film that will be in theatres, so that people who are fans can watch the thing together, in person, and not just communicate virtually."

The film picks up in 1940 during World War Two, with Tommy Shelby being forced to revisit his past.

"When you meet him at the beginning of the Second World War, he's retreated from society," Murphy explained. "He's on his own, rattling around in his big house with all these demons and ghosts, and the consequences of his deeds come rushing back in."

Shelby is seen writing a book as a form of therapy, before the world of the Peaky Blinders gangsters "draws him back in, and ultimately his son draws him back into the world", Murphy said.

The film has received warm reviews, with the Guardian giving three stars to "a resoundingly confident drama", and Empire awarding the same rating but declaring that "it doesn't fully deliver on the promise of its generational clash".

The Daily Telegraph gave two stars, saying the film "reaches for moments of greatness, and once or twice gets there", but that "those peaks just aren't as razor-sharp as they used to be".

The Times gave four stars, judging the movie to be "not subtle but it is fun"; while the Independent's three-star write-up praised the "formidably talented" Murphy and said Keoghan is "a natural fit for Peaky Blinders".

Variety described it as "dutiful fan service, sure to satisfy legions of cultists cosplaying in tweed, but not unapproachable to viewers who aren't entirely au fait with the show".

The Immortal Man isn't the end of the legendary gang - after the film, Peaky Blinders will return to TV to follow the exploits of the new generation of the Shelby family after World War Two.

"There is more to be told in the universe, but this is the final chapter of this part of the story," Knight told Breakfast.