Tim Roth admits he said yes to playing a fascist sympathiser in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man even though he had never seen a single episode of the hit BBC series. The 64-year-old actor, known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, joins the world of the Shelby family completely fresh, and he was a bit anxious about revealing that secret to the show’s lead, Cillian Murphy.
The Oscar-nominated actor stars as Beckett, a British fascist sympathiser tasked with recruiting the Peaky Blinders to help circulate Nazi counterfeit money in Birmingham during World War Two. It is a villainous role that required Roth to bring a specific working-class menace to the screen, but he did so without doing any homework on the previous six seasons of the show.
Walking Into a World He Did Not Know
Roth explained his decision to skip the show during the film’s red carpet premiere in Birmingham. He told reporters that he wanted to approach the role as a complete outsider, experiencing the world of the Peaky Blinders for the first time through the script and his fellow actors.
“I decided not to [watch it] so I just walked into the world as a stranger,” Roth said at the event. He described joining the cast as walking into “this incredible bunch” and stepping into “this world they created, it was absolutely extraordinary.”
The actor revealed in a recent interview that Cillian Murphy personally texted him asking to take on the role of John Beckett. After agreeing, Roth faced a small dilemma.
“I was a bit nervous about telling him I hadn’t seen it,” Roth admitted. When he finally confessed, Murphy simply laughed, which Roth described as “typical Cillian.”
A Character Built Without Preconceptions
Roth explained his reasoning for staying away from the source material. He wanted to “come in totally fresh” and immerse himself in the world that the cast and crew had built over 13 years. He described the experience of finally stepping onto the set and witnessing the fully realised world of the Shelbys as “absolutely extraordinary.”
This fresh approach actually helped shape his character. Creator Steven Knight originally wrote Beckett as a posh establishment figure. Roth pushed back against that idea, arguing that such a character would never be able to communicate with the working-class gangsters of Small Heath.
“That posh t*** wouldn’t be able to communicate with these people,” Roth said. Knight agreed and rewrote the character to be working-class, resulting in a performance described as reptilian and calculating, a Tarantino villain reconfigured as a Whitehall traitor.
The Plot He Walked Into
For those who also haven’t watched the series, The Immortal Man picks up the story in 1940, several years after the events of the final season. Cillian Murphy returns as Thomas Shelby, now living in self-imposed isolation, grieving his daughter and haunted by ghosts of his past.
The plot revolves around a real historical event called Operation Bernhard, a Nazi scheme to counterfeit millions of pounds at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in order to crash the British economy. Roth’s character Beckett is tasked with finding local gangsters who can help circulate the fake money.
He approaches Duke Shelby (played by Barry Keoghan), Tommy’s illegitimate son who now leads the Peaky Blinders, with a proposition. “I need to know that you are willing to take part in an act of treason that will decide this war for Germany,” Beckett asks Duke in the film.
Other Newcomers Also Skipped Homework
Roth is not the only new cast member who came to the project without deep knowledge of the series. His co-star Rebecca Ferguson, who plays the mysterious Kaulo, watched only one season before joining.
“It’s six bloody seasons, it’s a lot,” Ferguson laughed during an interview. She agreed with Roth’s approach, explaining that over-researching can ruin a performance because the actor might “turn into something that has already been created.”
Ferguson described working with Knight and director Tom Harper as “incredible” and compared the set to “sitting in a pub with some mates and playing some cards and having some pints.” She said the safe environment allowed the cast to explore and have fun without worrying about making mistakes.
Praise for the Writer
Despite never seeing the series, Roth had nothing but praise for the man who created it. He described Steven Knight as “incredible” and “really funny” during interviews promoting the film.
“When you’ve got good writers about it makes your job so much easier. It’s quite wonderful,” Roth said.
The film marks a homecoming for the franchise, with much of it shot in Birmingham for the first time. Previous series were primarily filmed in northern England, but Knight insisted on bringing the movie to the city that inspired the stories.
What Critics Are Saying About Roth’s Performance
Early reviews for The Immortal Man have praised Roth’s portrayal of Beckett. One review described his character as “a somewhat more theatrical villain than the film’s otherwise solemn tone might suggest,” noting a moment where he suddenly shouts “Heil f***ing Hitler!” out of nowhere.
The film has been described as feeling like a double-length final episode with a few special guests rather than a massive blockbuster, which reviewers say works perfectly as a farewell to the characters.
A Busy Time for Roth
The release of The Immortal Man comes during a busy period for Roth, who recently opened up about another major role he turned down years ago. During promotional interviews with Ferguson, the conversation turned to Harry Potter, and Roth reluctantly admitted he was almost cast as Severus Snape.
“I initially said yes and then I thought ‘No, I’ll just [always] be Snape, that’ll be it,’” Roth explained. The role famously went to Alan Rickman, who played the character in all eight Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2011.
Some reports suggest Roth chose to star in Planet of the Apes instead, as it was filming at the same time and he did not want to commit to both projects.
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Release Information
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is currently playing in select cinemas as of March 6, 2026. The film will begin streaming globally on Netflix from March 20, 2026.
Viewers in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and India can all access the film on Netflix starting March 20. The film is also available in limited theatrical release in major cities across these regions.
For those wondering whether they need to watch six seasons before seeing the movie, both Murphy and Knight have stated the film works as a standalone story. “Someone who’d never watched it could approach this as a standalone,” Murphy said. “Which I think is the beauty of it.”
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