I think the luxury of having played (Tommy Shelby) for so long is that all the research is kind of done, you know? You've got like 13 years there. You've lived it alongside him, and also you've kind of aged alongside him. It's kind of unique. I'll never experience that again, and it's really unusual and gratifying to have that opportunity to play a character like that.
He plays Cathy's drunk but generous, cruel yet humorous father in a part that could easily have drifted into the background. But he makes such an impression that the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw reckons he pretty much pinches the whole film.