Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole: ‘Helen McCrory was a force of nature’

Joe Cole, 35, grew up in south London, the eldest of five brothers. After his breakthrough in Skins, he played John Shelby in Peaky Blinders for four years, alongside his younger brother, Finn Cole. He was nominated for a Bafta in 2017 for his role in the Black Mirror episode Hang the DJ, and played the lead in the ITV remake of The Ipcress File. He stars in Gangs of London, and now plays the lead in the BBC thriller Nightsleeper. He lives in London.

Helen McCrory was a force of nature. The people who burn the brightest in this world may be the people who are taken too soon. [The actress, who played Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders, died in 2021.] It’s heartbreaking. You felt like you had to be on your toes around her, in a good way. She’d be asking you what you were doing that weekend, then she’d be cracking jokes and you’d have to have your game face on. She seized life by the balls. She was amazing with my little brother, Finn. Peaky Blinders was his first acting role. I know they were very close. She left a real mark on the world. I assumed everyone was as charismatic and funny as her, but as I’ve gone through the industry I’ve realised, oh, wait, no, that was just Helen.

I used to work at John Lewis selling carpets. I was trying to figure out my place in the world. I felt like there was more than just Kingston upon Thames, where I grew up, and wanted to get out into the big, wide world but didn’t quite know how to do it.

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I can’t have a Peaky Blinders haircut or hat. I tried on a peaked hat in a shop the other day and just thought, no, there’s no way I can wear this one. People will think I’m still hanging on.

You never really learn how to take a punch, until you actually take one. If you’re going to do a true story about a fighter in Thailand [the 2017 film A Prayer Before Dawn], don’t expect not to get hit. We were sparring for real. I certainly took some real blows. I did a lot of training and toughened myself up. A southeast Asian boxing champion sent me to the moon and back in one sequence. I never forgot that one.

I didn’t have a Hollywood personal trainer for that film. Essentially, it’s calories in versus calories out. I was boxing, doing pull-ups, push-ups, press-ups, running on repeat and eating clean. I did a kind of prison diet. I ate the same thing every day.

I’m somewhere on the neurotypical spectrum. I found it hard to focus on my coursework and doing the work required to get to university. Drama and theatre studies was a different matter. That gave me the fire in my belly to go and pursue something else.

Alamy

A guy said, “You really look like that guy off Peaky Blinders,” in a bar the other day. I said, “Yeah, I am him.” The lad just looked at me and said, “There’s no way in hell that you’re that guy.” It was funny.

Everyone wants to be the hero. Everyone thinks they’re going to be like Joe Roag [his character in Nightsleeper, an off-duty policeman]. I’d like to think I’d do my bit in a crisis. Because I’ve done all these acting roles and done it pretend for so long, I feel like maybe I could actually do some of this for real.

I was trying to avoid trains after filming Nightsleeper. [The series is set on a train that has been “hackjacked”, travelling from Glasgow to London.] You do think twice. I was walking and cycling.

I moved into my younger brother’s year and retook my A-levels. It was serendipitous. Our groups consolidated. Now my greatest friends and his greatest friends are completely intertwined. Me and that brother, we’re almost as close as twins, without being twins.

The first time I ever lived alone was tricky. I was used to being around a lot of people, cooking together, playing video games and football outside. After being away on jobs, you figure out how to do it.

Cold water swimming is such a simple way of feeling amazing. If I’m near a body of water, I’m in it. It can be anywhere in the world. It gives you a dopamine hit and is an easy way of feeling good and getting out of your head.

The happiest I’ve felt in years was in Iceland. I was doing a movie there. As I was driving along the coastline in Isafjordur, I remember this incredible feeling of peace.

Nightsleeper airs on BBC1 from tomorrow at 9pm, and will also be available on BBC iPlayer