Peaky Blinders has revealed a sweet on-set tribute the team has paid to former star Helen McCrory.
The actor, who was best known for playing Shelby family matriarch Aunt Polly in the BBC gang drama, died last week at the age of 52.
With work currently underway on the upcoming series, bosses commemorated Helen with a special clapperboard during filming.
The clapperboard carried a drawing of Helen in character as Aunt Polly, along with the words “Rest in Peace Helen”.
A picture of it was posted on the show’s official Instagram account, with the caption: “Forever part of the Peaky Blinders family.”
News of Helen’s death was announced last Friday by her husband Damien Lewis on Twitter, who revealed she’d died after what he described as “a heroic battle with cancer”.
The Peaky Blinders team shared a full tribute at the time, with a show statement reading: “Helen’s performance as Polly Grey was inspirational, joyous, transgressive, hilarious and incredibly moving.
“As a person she was off-the-scale charismatic, and deeply caring. We feel so privileged to have worked with her over the last decade.
“All our thoughts and love are with Damian and family.”
Helen’s husband subsequently paid heartbreaking tribute to his late wife in a piece for the Sunday Times, describing her as “a meteor in our life”.
“I’ve never known anyone so consciously spread happiness,” Damien wrote. “Even when dying in her last few days, when talking to our wonderful carers, she repeatedly said, ‘thank you so much’ in her half-delirious state.
“She always asked people how they were, always took an interest, made each person she met feel special, as though they were the only person in the room.”
Helen was a regular figure in prestige TV dramas, including the ITV hit Quiz, the BBC political series Roadkill, psychological thriller MotherFatherSon and the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.
She also appeared in the Harry Potter films as Narcissa Malfoy and played the home secretary in James Bond film Skyfall.
