Anna Calvi admits she ‘begged’ Peaky Blinders bosses for a cameo role

Anna Calvi says she begged the director of Peaky Blinders for a cameo role, adding that she “became” gang boss Tommy Shelby to create the score for the latest series.

Calvi, 38, one of the contenders for this year’s Mercury Prize which is announced tonight, wrote the music for the fifth series of the BBC show starring Cillian Murphy as Shelby and Helen McCrory as matriarch Polly.

The Twickenham-born star hinted that she had already signed up to do the music for the next series and admitted she had also asked director Anthony Byrne for a role in the drama.

She said: “I was actually talking to the director , like, ‘Come on, give me a cameo. Please! Let me have an argument with Polly [McCrory].’ I would love to be in it.”

Calvi added: “I got absolutely lost in Shelby’s world. I was dreaming about it, it was all I thought about. I was working on it all hours of the day and night. I kinda felt like I was Tommy Shelby for a while, I became him. Well, I didn’t become a murderous gangster but...”

Calvi was speaking ahead of the Mercury Prize awards ceremony at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith tonight, where she is one of 12 in the running for the title.

She faces competition from several London artists, including rappers Dave and Little Simz plus singer Nao.

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Cavli, whose album Hunter is up for the prize, has twice been nominated before, in 2011 for her eponymous debut and in 2014 for One Breath, but is yet to win.

On the likelihood of taking the gong tonight, she said: “I have a one in 12 chance. I would be really surprised. I am not expecting to win. I think I would faint.”

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