Peaky Blinders shares touching tribute to late actress Helen McCrory

Peaky Blinders has paid tribute to Helen McCrory, saying the late actress will “forever” be part of the programme’s family.

Her husband, the actor Damian Lewis, announced in a statement on Twitter last week that she had died aged 52 after a “heroic battle with cancer”.

The official Twitter account for the hit crime drama labelled the actress “forever part of the Peaky Blinders family”.

Alongside the message was a photo of a clapperboard featuring a drawing of McCrory.

“Rest in peace Helen,” a message on the clapperboard said.

McCrory played Shelby family matriarch Polly Gray in the series, which is set in interwar Birmingham.

She starred in every series of the show, which began in 2013.

In January it was announced that Peaky Blinders will end after its upcoming sixth series, however creator Steven Knight said the story would continue in “another form”.