Former Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole will go head-to-head with his former co-stars in a new Sunday night drama, four years after quitting the BBC show.
Joe, played John Shelby, the younger brother of Cillian Murphy's lead character Tommy, after landing the role in 2003.
The now 33-year-old's job on Peaky Blinders came after parts in the likes of Skins and The Bill and he was an integral part of the much loved programme's cast for three series before deciding to ditch the flat cap and move onto pastures new.
And, having told the Radio Times that deciding to quit Peaky Blinders was "a no brainer," Joe, who has gone onto star in Gangs of London, will no go into direct competition with the BBC drama thanks to landing the lead in new ITV spy thriller The Ipcress File.
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Filling the 9pm Sunday slot on the rival channel, left by the conclusion of Trigger Point at the weekend, The Ipcress File, based on the legendary, 10 million selling book by John Deighton, will kick off on Sunday, March 6.
Joe plays Harry Palmer, British army sergeant and iconic spy, who the law catches up with after he goes on the make in Berlin.
He finds himself sentenced to eight years in a grim military jail in England, all his prospects abruptly torn away and is forced to become a spy to avoid prison.
Harry’s links to the man suspected of kidnapping a missing British nuclear scientist result in him being conscripted for a dangerous undercover mission that takes him from The Beatles’ London to the Berlin Wall, from the back alleys of Beirut to the white-hot sands of a nuclear atoll in the Pacific.
On his decision to quit Peaky Blinders, Joe said: "‘For me, it was a no-brainer. I was missing out on some stuff, and I felt like I had exhausted this character," adding: "‘People used to come up to me and go, “you’re that bloke from Peaky Blinders,” but I’m thinking, “my best work is in other stuff.” There’s more to me than this.’"
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