Peaky Blinders star Alexander Siddig says it is ‘not fun’ on set

Actor said the cast have a ‘pack mentality’

Peaky Blinders actor Alexander Siddig has detailed his experience of filming the show, revealing it is “not fun”.

The star, who played painter Ruben Oliver in season three in 2016, told NME: “It is not fun. It’s full on. There are people kicking off left, right and centre. The Peaky Blinders lot are a group of method actors.”

He added: “You walk into a room and there’s a bunch of them sitting around a table all singing Peaky Blinders songs and you’re like, ‘Excuse me, wrong door’. They have a pack mentality and they hang out together, they’re fierce.”

Siddig said he was “very much on the outside” adding: “They’re lovely, lovely people obviously, but they’re in their characters.”

The actor played the love interest of Polly (Helen McCrory) in the third series of the drama, which also stars Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy and Sophie Rundle.

Siddig has also appeared in Game of Thrones as Prince Doran Martell and the shows Deep State and Primeval.  He is currently promoting the action film Skylines, a sequel to Beyond Skyline and the final entry in the Skyline trilogy, which will be released on December 18.

Earlier this year, Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole revealed that one of the reasons he left his role as John Shelby in the show was because the Birmingham gang drama focussed so heavily on Cillian Murphy’s character. 

“With Peaky Blinders, I never really got out of the gates in that role”, he said. "It’s Cillian’s show really.”