As Cillian Murphy and a glittering Hollywood cast descended on Birmingham for the premiere of the Peaky Blinders movie, there was one notable absentee on the red carpet.
Troubled Paul Anderson — who played the Irish actor’s on-screen brother, Arthur, in all six series of the BBC gangster drama — did not have a role in the new adaptation after police caught him with a cocktail of drugs.
And while leading man Cillian, who reprises his TV role as Brummie mobster Tommy Shelby, smiled for the cameras at last Monday’s exclusive screening, Paul has admitted he is “in a bad place”, with the life he had planned left in tatters.
Now the star, 51, has opened up about his struggles in an exclusive interview.
And he has vowed to pursue a career comeback, supported by A-list pals including Tom Hardy, Stephen Graham and Leonardo DiCaprio, insisting: “My darkest thoughts help with my acting.
“This pain that I’m in right now, I can express it. I have an outlet and that’s great.”
Paul’s life spiralled out of control when he was caught with a stash of cocaine and amphetamines on Boxing Day 2023. His arrest led to his split from his fiancée, who he doesn’t wish to name, just months after she had given birth to their first child in July that year.
He says of their relationship unravelling: “As soon as she got pregnant, everything changed.
Haunted by drugs rap
“I felt left out and jealous and insecure. I felt inadequate, in a way.
“I wasn’t out all the time, but I carried on seeing my friends and being the same person. One day she said, ‘We’re not doing it right and I’m not being the mum I want to be’.
“I said, ‘Alright, I get it’. There weren’t any arguments.
“She went to stay with her mum and we are still friends. My son is loved and cared for and I see him whenever I want.”
But Paul also admitted: “I’m not in a good place. We were making plans to get married.
“I proposed to her on Christmas Eve at her mum’s in the countryside and I bought her a beautiful Castro Smith ring.
“Our relationship was chaotic and full of love — I still love her now.
“Being a dad was the greatest role of my life. We were together for four years and now I’m back to being single. I’m a little lonely, I suppose.
“I feel like the three of us should be sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons together.”
The actor and his ex-partner once shared a posh, rented four-bedroom mews pad near London’s Hampstead Heath, while planning to get hitched and buy their own place.
Paul now stays in a flat in the West of the capital that he describes as “a bad area full of druggies and prostitutes”.
His fall from grace came after punters at his local boozer complained that they could smell crack cocaine fumes coming from a disabled toilet.
The manager called cops and the “intoxicated” star was spotted on foot nearby.
Officers then discovered the Class A substance on him, as well as a wrap of brown powder found to be amphetamines, diazepam and the anxiety drug pregabalin, Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court heard.
Paul later tested positive for opiates and cocaine, but not crack cocaine.
He admitted narcotics possession in January 2024 and was fined £1,345.
My father was a dustman and a raging alcoholic who walked out when I was 11. I know I have demons like my dad
Paul Anderson
Recalling how his life changed the moment police swooped following the drug allegation, he says: “It was so stupid. I couldn’t believe it.
“I remember seeing the blue flashing lights and thinking, ‘They’re not coming for me’.
“I was two minutes from home and I thought, ‘If I just put a shift on and slip round this corner, I’ll be home’. But I thought ‘No, I don’t need to do that, I haven’t done anything wrong’.
“The police pulled up and said, ‘We’ve had a report of someone drunk’. I said, ‘I’m not drunk’.
“But they found drugs on me. Being arrested is something I’m not proud of. I remember thinking, ‘Oh s**t, this is not going to look good’.
“My friends supported me, of course they did. I have to be squeaky clean now. I’m fortunate in that I do have a lot of love — I’ve noticed that.
“And I’ve done a lot of growing up over the past few years.”
Pushing to reboot his career, Paul has landed a small role in the American Civil War mini-series The Gray House, released on Prime Video last month, with Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman as executive producers.
He plays vengeful Stokely Reeves in the drama — another brooding, troubled character fans will find familiar.
But he has continued to be haunted by his drugs rap, with photos appearing that showed him looking ghostly pale, lined and dishevelled.
It is a scenario that would have resulted in most actors being permanently cancelled.
A 2024 conviction for driving a motorbike without insurance was not exactly positive publicity, either.
But Paul is part of an acting fraternity sharper than a Peaky Blinders flat cap.
He starred in the BBC series from 2013 to 2022, and his recurring role led him to strike up a friendship with Tom Hardy, who played gang leader Alfred “Alfie” Solomons in season two in 2014.
He also got pally with Stephen Graham, who starred as union leader Hayden Stagg in the sixth season.
And his bond with Hardy led to a part in the 2015 movie Legend, about the Kray twins.
Around the same time, he was cast as “Anderson” in The Revenant, which won Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar in 2016.
Paul says of his famous pals: “Of course they are supporting me. My friends in LA have been saying, ‘Come out and stay here’.
‘I have demons’
“Me and Tom Hardy are very close and Stephen Graham is also a friend. When I first met Leo, he said, ‘The way those guys talk about you, we might as well be brothers — those are my boys’.
“When we shot The Revenant [in the Canadian Rocky Mountains] he would try to fly back to LA most weekends and he invited me.
“At 8pm we would be on set, and come midnight we were in One Oak club on Sunset surrounded by models and beautiful people. It was great.”
Chatting to Paul, it is easy to see why he has been embraced by Hollywood royalty.
He is personable, self-deprecating and full of engaging tales about meeting the likes of former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and England star Jude Bellingham — a Peaky Blinders fan born and raised in Stourbridge on the outskirts of Birmingham.
But as we speak at his favourite Italian restaurant Garum, in Bayswater, West London, it is clear he has not fully escaped his past, with the toll still evident on his lined face.
He abstains from alcohol, the only Coke he consumes these days is the fizzy variety and he says his big vice is carbonara pizza.
Paul, who grew up on a council estate in Kennington, South London, confesses: “My father was a dustman and a raging alcoholic who walked out when I was 11.
“I know I have demons like my dad.
“I have no fear of being judged. I had a tiny bit of something in my pocket and it was unfortunate.
“I don’t feel like I have to redeem myself, but I do with my image. Those pictures are still around and it’s annoying.”
Losing his relationship has left a huge hole in Paul’s life.
He tells how he got together with his ex towards the end of the pandemic, when he was in his 40s and she was 22 and just out of drama school. On their first date, he was warned by pals, “She’s younger than your niece”.
‘Lots I want to do’
And he jokes of his pal DiCaprio, who is famed for relationships with women many years his junior: “I guess we have similar tastes.”
Paul reflects: “My ego is the size of King Kong, but I have the self-worth of a muskrat.
“You give an ego fame and a load of money and you either succeed or you self-destruct.”
Paul’s character Arthur Shelby only appears briefly in flashback form in the new Peaky Blinders movie, The Immortal Man, and he did not shoot any scenes with the other actors.
However, he recently spoke to the show’s creator, Steven Knight, and remains close with co-star Cillian.
“It’s a question everyone is asking, whether or not Arthur is in the film?” he says.
“But we’ve decided to keep quiet about it. I can tell you there is no animosity between myself and Steven and Peaky Blinders.
I’m well known as Arthur Shelby from Peaky Blinders, but there are lots of things I want to do. I haven’t really touched the sides
Paul Anderson
“Peaky Blinders was a big part of my life — ten years — and it became this machine, this monster.
“I loved it. Cillian had the biggest piece of the pie and I knew my place, but I made the most of my character.
“I was offered other roles, including a part in the new Predator movie by Shane Black. But I didn’t want to just leave like that.”
Paul reckons he should not let his Peaky Blinders role define him, and believes there are plenty of opportunities out there for him to pursue.
He says: “Friends of mine have done TV shows in the States that weren’t even that successful and they were paid a fortune — a million pounds a season.
“If Peaky had paid that kind of money, I certainly wouldn’t be in a little apartment.
“I’m well known as Arthur Shelby from Peaky Blinders, but there are lots of things I want to do.
“I haven’t really touched the sides. I have a film with Ben Kingsley that I shot before Christmas and it’s great.
“I’ve got lots of stuff in the pipeline and it’s nice to have options, but I’m not in the best place.”
And he adds ruefully: “I had my life mapped out and now it’s gone.
“I’m at a place where I can do whatever I want, but I don’t know what that is.”
