The beginning of the end of Peaky Blinders is here, with the first episode of the final season set to air on Sunday evening (February 27). But the fact that the show is drawing to a close is not the only sad thing about this season for fans, as season six will also be the first without Aunt Polly, played by the late Helen McCrory.
Helen's portrayal of the pragmatic matriarch established her as a firm favourite amongst viewers. The esteemed actress played the role from the crime drama's inaugural series back in 2013, until her death.
Born in London in August 1968, Helen attended Queenswood School in Hertfordshire, spending a year abroad in Italy once she left. Upon her return to the UK, Helen began studying at the Drama Centre in London. Although she was known mostly for her roles on-screen, Helen enjoyed a critically-acclaimed career as an actress on stage, too.
Read more: Peaky Blinders stars open up about filming 'really moving' Helen McCrory tribute
She won a host of awards for her astounding theatre performances, including the Richard Burton Award for Most Promising Newcomer in the 1995 Shakespeare Globe Awards for her role as Lady Macbeth. She appeared on the stages of a number of theatres across the British Isles - Shakespeare's Globe, the theatres that make up The National Theatre, Harrogate Theatre, and the Royal Exchange Theatre - to name a few.
Helen's first on-screen appearance came in 1993, with a role in comedy series Full Stretch. It was the following year, 1994, that she landed her first role in a film, which happened to be Interview with the Vampire.
The actress was arguably most well-known for her roles in the Harry Potter franchise as Narcissa Malfoy, Clair Dowar MP in Skyfall, and Cherie Blair in The Queen. Apart from Peaky Blinders, in terms of television, Helen appeared in Doctor Who, The Crown, Inside No. 9, and Fearless.
Helen married actor Damian Lewis in July 2007, and the couple went on to have two children, Manon and Gulliver. They lived between two homes, situated in Tufnell Park in North London, and near Sudbury in Suffolk.
In terms of charity, Helen was an honorary patron for Scene & Heard, a London-based mentoring project that partners with the inner-city children of Somers Town in London with volunteer theatre professionals. During the pandemic, she and Damian supported Feed NHS, a programme to give food from high street restaurants to NHS staff, and had raised a staggering figure of £1million by early April 2020.
Just one year on, the devastating news of Helen's death from breast cancer broke in April 2021, after Damian announced the news. She was 52. As he shared his heartbreak with the world, fans of Helen and those who had worked alongside her paid heartfelt tributes.
Peaky Blinders stars were quick to give moving statements about Helen and her talents. Cillian Murphy said: "I am broken-hearted to lose such a dear friend. Helen was a beautiful, caring, funny, compassionate human being.
“She was also a gifted actor – fearless and magnificent. She elevated and made humane every scene, every character she played.
“It was a privilege to have worked with this brilliant woman, to have shared so many laughs over the years. I will dearly miss my pal. My love and thoughts are with Damian and her family.”
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe also reflected on his time working alongside Helen in a statement he shared with Metro. It said: "I truly couldn’t believe this news when I heard it. Helen was one of the most incredible actors I got to work with on the Harry Potter films,
"She was effortlessly commanding and captivating as an actor, as well as being kind, generous and incredibly good fun as a person. Also, as it happens, she’s one of the absolute coolest people I’ve ever met, in that I can’t ever imagine her being flustered or nervous, she always seemed totally assured of who she was and what she was doing.
"She was a supreme talent and a wonderful person and will be very greatly missed."
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