Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole felt like he ‘exhausted’ his character on the popular BBC series, which ultimately led to his exit in 2017.
The 33-year-old actor played Tommy Shelby’s (Cillian Murphy) younger brother John in the Birmingham-based drama – which focuses on the famous families’ reign following World War I in 1918.
Cole had cameos in Holby City, The Bill, and teen comedy Skins before landing the Peaky Blinders gig in 2013, and although he starred in the popular programme for three seasons, he still doesn’t regret walking away from it five years later.
‘In society we’re told to play by the rules and live your life in a certain way,’ Cole told Radio Times.
‘For me, it was a no-brainer. I was missing out on some stuff, and I felt like I had exhausted this character,’ he added.
The latest season of the period crime show made its highly-anticipated debut on Sunday night, with an impressive 3.8million viewers tuning in to watch the first episode, which had fans in tears as it honoured the late Helen McCrory who died from cancer, aged 52, last year.
However, despite the intense popularity, Cole told the publication that he believes his best work goes beyond Peaky Blinders.
‘There’s a ceiling here and I’ve well and truly hit it,’ he said.
‘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.’
Following his departure from the Steven Knight drama, Cole later starred in Sky’s action series Gangs of London in 2020.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk about why he went down a similar genre route, he said: ‘I’ve spent the last few years turning down gang related shows because when a show does well you get offered quite a lot of them.
‘I actually chose to leave Peaky Blinders because I wanted to explore new avenues and new characters and new stories.’
Peaky Blinders series 6 airs Sundays at 9pm on BBC One.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.
Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole felt like he ‘exhausted’ his character on the popular BBC series, which ultimately led to his exit in 2017.
The 33-year-old actor played Tommy Shelby’s (Cillian Murphy) younger brother John in the Birmingham-based drama – which focuses on the famous families’ reign following World War I in 1918.
Cole had cameos in Holby City, The Bill, and teen comedy Skins before landing the Peaky Blinders gig in 2013, and although he starred in the popular programme for three seasons, he still doesn’t regret walking away from it five years later.
‘In society we’re told to play by the rules and live your life in a certain way,’ Cole told Radio Times.
‘For me, it was a no-brainer. I was missing out on some stuff, and I felt like I had exhausted this character,’ he added.
The latest season of the period crime show made its highly-anticipated debut on Sunday night, with an impressive 3.8million viewers tuning in to watch the first episode, which had fans in tears as it honoured the late Helen McCrory who died from cancer, aged 52, last year.
However, despite the intense popularity, Cole told the publication that he believes his best work goes beyond Peaky Blinders.
‘There’s a ceiling here and I’ve well and truly hit it,’ he said.
‘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.’
Following his departure from the Steven Knight drama, Cole later starred in Sky’s action series Gangs of London in 2020.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk about why he went down a similar genre route, he said: ‘I’ve spent the last few years turning down gang related shows because when a show does well you get offered quite a lot of them.
‘I actually chose to leave Peaky Blinders because I wanted to explore new avenues and new characters and new stories.’
Peaky Blinders series 6 airs Sundays at 9pm on BBC One.
Credit: Original article published here.You can read this post on My Celebrity Life.