0:01

BBC Sounds, music, radio,

0:03

podcasts. Hello, I'm Lauren

0:05

Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs

0:08

podcast. Every week I ask my guests to

0:10

choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd

0:12

want to take with them if they were

0:14

cast away to a desert island. And

0:17

for rights reasons, the music is shorter

0:19

than the original broadcast. I hope you

0:21

enjoy listening. My

0:44

castaway this week is the actor Killian

0:47

Murphy. When the nominations for the Best

0:49

Actor Oscar were announced earlier this year,

0:51

it was no surprise to see his

0:53

name on the shortlist. He'd already won

0:56

a Golden Globe for his performance in

0:58

the title role of Christopher Nolan's epic

1:00

drama Oppenheimer. He specialises

1:02

in complex, flawed men with dubious

1:04

morals. Take Thomas Shelby, the

1:07

gang boss in the globally successful

1:09

television series Peaky Blinders, which made

1:11

him a household name. The

1:13

more pressure his characters are under, it seems,

1:15

the better he gets. Growing

1:17

up in Cork, he wanted to be

1:19

a musician, but after turning down a

1:22

record deal, he was cast in a

1:24

short run of Endor Welch's frenetic play

1:26

Disco Pigs and Never Look Back. He

1:28

says, I've always been interested in the

1:30

melancholic or the ambiguous or the more

1:32

transgressive. That, to me, is drama. Getting

1:35

into those knotty, difficult, uncomfortable places,

1:38

I find that really stimulating. Killian

1:40

Murphy, welcome to Desert Island Discs.

1:42

Thank you, Lauren. It's a real pleasure to

1:44

have you here today, Killian, and we have to start

1:47

with Oppenheimer, as everybody's talking about it at the minute.

1:49

That performance, so much of it,

1:52

was about demonstrating your character's inner

1:54

turmoil through the tiniest nuances, all

1:56

those close-ups, and all of

1:58

that under the surface that was going on. How

2:01

do you get into the right frame of mind

2:03

to show us rather than tell us what a

2:05

character is feeling? Well, I

2:07

think that's always been the sort of acting that's

2:10

intrigued me is when you can

2:12

see the character thinking, seeing

2:15

the face as a landscape kind of. And I

2:17

knew that Chris was going to do that on

2:19

this piece. And I knew

2:21

the character was so much

2:23

in his head that I knew

2:25

it had to be an interior kind of performance and

2:27

a small performance. I also knew in the

2:30

back of my mind that he was shooting this mainly

2:32

on IMAX cameras so that it would

2:34

be shown on an 80 foot screen

2:36

so that there wasn't that much demonstrating

2:38

you needed to do physically. It needed

2:41

to be more how you could sort

2:43

of transmit the thought process through

2:45

the face and the eyes and all that. But

2:48

I knew immediately that it wouldn't be

2:50

an impression of not where my strengths

2:52

lie. And I knew it would be ultimately a sort of

2:55

a synthesis of the script,

2:57

all of the stuff that I was absorbing

3:00

of him. And then I guess you bring an element of yourself to

3:02

it and then you put it all in the mix and it becomes

3:04

Chris's version and my version of

3:07

Oppenheimer. So you're going to be on the

3:09

red carpet for Oscar night. I know that's not always your

3:11

comfort zone. Yeah, I

3:13

have struggled with it in the past. And you

3:16

know, it's not something I've ever totally at ease with. But

3:18

I think you have to like choose

3:20

to enjoy it. And I think you can do

3:22

that in your brain, you know, just make that

3:24

alteration. And it's easier then. And

3:26

you know, I've had my wife and my kids with

3:28

me and that's been lovely. And yeah,

3:30

you'd be an agent not to enjoy it, you

3:32

know, just go with this.

3:35

That's my attitude. Killian, how

3:37

have you found choosing your discs today? I

3:39

sweat it over it like everybody does. I showed

3:42

a couple of friends the list and they

3:44

said, Oh, well, that's good, Killian. There's no

3:46

weird, crazy, obscure stuff on there for a

3:49

change. Some

3:51

of them I haven't listened to in years, and it was a joy

3:53

to listen to them. And some of them I listened to all the

3:56

time. So I've loved it, I have to say. Well,

3:58

let's get started. Disc number one. we

4:00

go to here? Oh yeah, so Boy in

4:02

the Bubble, Paul Simon from Graceland. This

4:05

was a cassette that we had in a car when we

4:07

were kids, so there's four of us and we'd be all

4:09

sports in the back and we'd be

4:11

going on camping trips to France

4:13

or Ireland or wherever we'd be going.

4:17

And this album, I know every

4:19

single lyric from every single song. And

4:21

I don't think I knew how good the album was

4:23

at the time, it was just an album that

4:25

was on a car. But I truly appreciate it.

4:30

Paul Simon and the Boy in the Bubble. So, Killian

4:35

Murphy, you boys are so good. Born

5:00

in Cork in 1976, the eldest of four

5:02

grew up listening to that track while you were

5:04

all four of you squashed into the back of

5:06

the car. What was your seating position? That

5:08

can say a lot about the hierarchy. Well,

5:11

I remember one particular trip

5:13

we went on to France on the ferry

5:15

and I remember we had a Nissan Bluebird

5:18

and I remember it was my mum and dad in the front

5:21

and then me and my brother and my

5:23

sister in the back and my little sister

5:25

in the baby seat and also my grandmother.

5:27

I have

5:30

no idea. That's too many people for

5:32

one car. It's not possible or legal

5:35

now, but we did it. So

5:37

you were the big brother of the four. Were

5:39

you a classic big brother? Were you in charge?

5:41

Were you the leader of the gang? I

5:44

don't know, actually. It was funny. We

5:46

found some old VHS videos recently. My

5:48

dad transferred them on and digitised them.

5:50

And it was funny to see all

5:52

of us hanging around at Christmas time

5:55

just messing and having tickle

5:57

fights and stuff. There

6:00

was nowhere to go. Nobody went for a

6:02

walk. You'd be watching telly or

6:04

maybe you'd read a book Or

6:06

I'd be making a sandwich We were just all sitting around

6:09

and it was just interesting

6:11

to see that people not lost in devices,

6:13

you know Were you an imaginative kid?

6:16

Very much so. Yeah, an awful lot of reading

6:18

an awful lot of listening to

6:20

music and playing music and

6:22

writing songs And I

6:25

had a little cassette Recorder I would record myself on

6:27

like singing initially and then when I was playing guitar

6:29

just writing stuff Music

6:31

was the first thing that really

6:33

woke me up to the arts

6:35

arts creativity and music was really valued at

6:38

home That was a big part of family life.

6:40

I think wasn't it for your parents Brendan and Mary

6:42

did they meet playing music? They met

6:44

in West Kerry at a session

6:46

a traditional Irish music session and

6:48

that became a kind of constant

6:50

for us They

6:52

were both teachers my dad was a teacher and then he

6:54

became a like an inspector There

6:57

was no artists to speak of in

7:00

the family. They were all teachers almost

7:02

exclusively on my mother's side and then

7:05

Farmers on my dad's side, but when when

7:08

we could we'd be gone to sessions and

7:10

pubs, you know, the classic Irish

7:13

childhood Yeah

7:20

Was it a culturally rich household

7:23

Yeah, there was a lot of books on the shelves, but

7:25

I never went to the theater for example, but I got

7:27

a lot of education Like

7:30

my mom was a French teacher then she teach

7:32

me French at home Also, my dad was an

7:34

Irish teacher and he would also teach

7:36

me Irish and also I'd get you know in school And then

7:39

I get the groins at home as well Music

7:42

what were you reading? What were your own passions when

7:45

you start discovering them? I was there was a

7:47

famous five and then all the talking stuff and then The

7:50

Irish writers anything that was there I kind of

7:52

read it's time for some more music killing

7:54

What are we going to hear next? Well, I thought

7:56

I should play some traditional Irish music because

7:58

it was so much part of

8:01

my childhood. I mean I should say

8:03

that I rejected it all. I was

8:05

a teenager and wouldn't listen to it

8:07

but now I'm starting to really appreciate

8:09

it again and this particular track my

8:11

dad found this on vinyl in

8:13

some secondhand shop recently and gave it to me and

8:15

I put it on at the turntable it just sounds

8:18

absolutely beautiful. It's by a piper called

8:20

Seamus Ennis is called a Wondering Mistral.

8:53

Seamus Ennis and the Wondering Mistral. So, Cillian

8:55

Murphy, tell me a little bit more about

8:57

your relationship with your dad. Did you have

8:59

any shared interests while you were growing up?

9:01

What did you do together? I think

9:04

we connected probably most strongly over music.

9:07

When I started playing in bands and stuff he was the

9:09

dad that would drive us around. So

9:14

it was you and your brother? Yeah, we

9:17

were in the band with neighbors and school

9:19

pals and there's a few different versions of

9:21

it but we took it

9:23

very very very seriously. So

9:25

the final incarnation of the band was called

9:27

Sons of Mr Green Jeans named after the

9:29

Frank Zappa track. What was the music like?

9:32

There were kind of long songs with

9:34

complicated middle eights and long

9:36

guitar solos and it worked very well live.

9:38

It didn't work so well when we tried

9:40

to do it in the studio because

9:43

you know you just needed that live energy of playing together whereas

9:45

we took a click track it

9:47

just sounded sterile and we lost all the soul.

9:50

Tell me more about this performing live then. That

9:52

was where the band really cooked and it all

9:54

kind of came together. What did that feel like?

9:57

The best feeling. That sort of non-verbal

9:59

communication. communication that you have with your

10:01

bandmates and with the audience when it's something

10:04

electric, something is happening in the room. It's

10:07

like a tingle, it's something kind of

10:10

transcendent really. And I

10:13

felt bizarrely comfortable up there for relatively shy

10:15

kids, you know? And that was what I

10:17

really wanted to do. That was it. There

10:19

was no other question of anything that I

10:21

wanted to do. And

10:24

for a while it looked like that

10:26

would work out. Yeah. You were offered a

10:28

five album deal, I think, by Acid Jazz. Yes,

10:30

we were. And my

10:33

brother was a youngster. And I

10:36

was just about to leave school or had left again,

10:38

recall exactly my parents. And

10:40

some of the other parents just refused to

10:43

allow it to happen. And they were right. You

10:45

know, I want to allow my kids, I think,

10:47

at that age, to sign his soul

10:49

away to a corporation or a version

10:52

of that. How did you feel about it at the time?

10:55

I don't know if I was that heartbroken. I

10:57

should say I was heartbroken. But I think I

10:59

just took it on the chin and just moved

11:01

on. And there was a month

11:04

in my life, which was July 1996, where

11:07

I got offered the record deal, turned it down. I was

11:10

stupidly doing a law degree and I failed it. And

11:13

I met my now wife and

11:15

I got approved in discobics

11:17

all within one month. So that wasn't

11:19

that. I think when things clarified for me,

11:22

I thought, OK, the

11:24

music avenue has been shut

11:26

down, but this other avenue is opening up.

11:29

How did that feel? Was it exciting? Really,

11:31

really exciting. You know, when you're a kid, you

11:33

just have that confidence of youth. You

11:36

just go with what's happening. So I just went

11:38

down this new path. I want to

11:40

ask more about that. But first, let's hear your next

11:42

piece of music, Kelly and Murphy. Your third choice

11:44

today. What have you got first? So this

11:46

is a band from Cork called the

11:48

Frank and Walters. They were

11:50

big all around that time that I'm

11:52

speaking about around like the mid 90s.

11:55

And I was obsessed with them.

11:57

I used to like go into the pubs.

12:00

So they used to drink in and quark and hang

12:02

around and try and chat to them and go to

12:04

all their gigs. We were

12:06

very influenced by them, him as a band, and

12:08

now later in my life I've become positive. And

12:11

this is the crikey, cracking thoughts of

12:14

the Con The

12:28

second Wolters and Wolters

12:30

trip. Chilly

12:48

Murphy, let's go back to your school days then. How do

12:50

you look back at that time? Were you a good student?

12:53

I enjoyed primary school more than secondary school. I was

12:55

a bit of a messer. Yeah, nothing

12:57

malicious, but I'd say it was a bit of

12:59

a pain in the ass to teach. And that

13:01

was probably difficult for my parents, knowing

13:04

that I was that kid in the class that

13:06

they had to encounter every day. And then secondary

13:08

school was different. It was

13:10

quite an academic school and

13:12

there wasn't that much scope for the arts there. And

13:14

it was quite a sporty school and it wasn't

13:17

really my thing. But luckily I managed

13:19

to find... We used to play school concerts

13:21

and things and I had a really good

13:23

English teacher, Ellie Wall, who's a poet and

13:25

novelist. And he very much encouraged me. I

13:27

think your still friends, what did he spot

13:29

in you? Did he ever told you? I

13:31

don't know. You'd have to ask him, but

13:33

he really knew how to bring books

13:35

and plays and poems to life because he

13:37

really... He wasn't just teaching them.

13:40

He was exploring what they

13:42

were about. He knew being a writer himself.

13:45

And I loved it. And he... Yeah, I

13:47

remember him saying to me, you know, you

13:49

should maybe think about doing something in the

13:51

arts. He wasn't quite sure what and neither

13:53

was I. But it was nice to have...

13:55

It's always good to have one good teacher

13:57

in your corner because I know... coming

14:00

from a long line of teachers how important. One

14:02

good teacher is they can make a big difference

14:04

and I think they're undervalued as

14:06

a profession but they can really set you

14:09

on the right course. I think when

14:11

you were about 17 there was another mentor that came

14:13

into your life who was also a big influence on

14:15

you and Pat Kienen. What impact did he have? Well

14:18

he came in and did a drama module when

14:20

I was about 17 and I knew

14:22

that he had a tea dinner company in Cork so

14:25

then I'd see him around after that module

14:27

finished I'd see him around Cork in pubs

14:29

and things and eventually I

14:31

went to see a production that he did of

14:33

A Clockwork Orange in Sir Henry's

14:36

Nightclub in Cork City and it

14:38

absolutely blew my mind. This

14:40

is your first theatre experience is

14:42

that right? Yeah. And a fully

14:44

immersive inner nightclub, Clockwork Orange. Yeah

14:46

promenade with like banging techno

14:48

and kind of dry ice and like guys

14:51

at Mohawks and it was

14:53

unbelievably vital and kind

14:56

of dangerous and sexy

14:58

and relevant and

15:01

kind of deviant and like for a 17 year old

15:04

who'd never been to the theatre it was absolutely mind-blowing.

15:06

It was one of the greatest things I've ever seen

15:08

in my life and after

15:11

that I just pursued him

15:13

and pestered him for an audition and

15:16

then when I left school I eventually thought they gave me an

15:18

audition. As we heard earlier you

15:20

started a law degree and while you were

15:22

at university you joined the drama society. What

15:24

did you love about it? I love the

15:27

camaraderie of it. I loved, I still love

15:29

above all the rehearsal process. It being like

15:31

a laboratory for four weeks where you're just

15:33

in a room with the actors trying to

15:36

excavate meaning from these words and

15:38

then trying to get it up on its feet and it

15:40

all seems absurd and you don't have enough time and it's

15:42

all going to go wrong and you're not gonna know your

15:44

lines in time and but then

15:46

by some miracle it actually works and

15:49

it happens and the lights go down and it works. But

15:52

I've actually always preferred the process

15:54

to the performance which I know

15:57

I shouldn't say because when

15:59

you get it up and it's opening night and

16:01

you're in the theatre then it's about

16:03

stamina and trying to keep the

16:06

form of the play for like six weeks or

16:08

12 weeks or 18 months whenever it is and I find

16:10

that hard. Let's have some

16:12

more music Killian. You're more choice today please, what

16:14

have you got for us? Oh some U2.

16:17

So I think that was about 10 or 11

16:19

when Joshua Tree came out. I remember

16:21

myself and my brother used to have like beds side

16:23

by side and we put the cassette player in the

16:25

middle and we put this on and turned the lights off and

16:29

this song would come on Bullet the Blue Sky

16:31

and the it was the first time I ever

16:33

experienced fear or danger in

16:35

a piece of music particularly that spoken

16:37

word piece that Bono does you

16:39

know the I see those fighter planes

16:41

and slapped them down and a man brings him to a

16:44

saxophone I don't know what he was talking about but it

16:46

was terrifying and brilliant. Oh

17:18

U2 and Bullet the Blue Sky. Killian

17:21

Murphy as he said you got the part

17:23

of pig in ender Wolters played disco pigs

17:25

which was directed by Pat Kiernan. Now you

17:27

hadn't been to drama school you'd never acted

17:29

professionally how did you get the role? Well

17:33

as I said I've been pursuing Pat

17:35

Kiernan around Cork City and

17:37

Pat eventually said all right

17:40

leave me alone I'll give you an audition

17:43

and he happened to be away

17:45

so I met Enda in Cork

17:47

and I read a scene for

17:49

him and I

17:52

went off hitchhiking to France I remember

17:54

and then I got the

17:56

part and they sent the script

17:58

to my tent. I

18:02

didn't know you could do, but they sent it

18:04

to my tent in France. So then I had

18:06

the part and we toured that play for 18

18:08

months. And yeah, it

18:10

was like we were just so young and

18:13

cocky and the play was only an hour long.

18:16

So we put it on at like 11 or 12 at night. So

18:19

it felt like that kind of night clubby thing. So we

18:21

do the play and then we just go out and go

18:25

drinking and go to clubs and be messing. And it

18:27

was a great thing to do at 19,

18:30

to be in a successful show. You know, it

18:32

was so jammy. But then eventually it has to

18:34

stop. And it did stop.

18:37

Then I was didn't work for a year and

18:39

was signing on and that was a kind of

18:41

a bit of a shock. But again, you're

18:44

so young, you don't mind, you just keep

18:46

going. And you then following

18:48

that experience had small theatre parts and

18:50

parts in films over the next few

18:52

years. I wonder where your heart lies.

18:54

Is it on stage or on set? I

18:57

don't think I could have walked onto a

18:59

film set at 20 years of age with

19:01

no experience whatsoever. I think I needed to

19:03

do all those hours on stage. Do you

19:05

get nervous? Not on stage. I get nervous

19:07

doing films. The distinction being that I think

19:09

when you do a play, you

19:12

retain control in so

19:14

far as if it's a terrible night and

19:16

you're off, you know that tomorrow

19:18

you can fix it and be better. Whereas

19:21

if you commit something to celluloid, it's

19:23

there forever. There's no fix of this.

19:25

You may have several goals, but... And

19:28

I found the whole sort of apparatus of filmmaking,

19:30

you know, the huge lights and the vans and

19:33

the trucks and the electricians and all the crew

19:35

and everything. They would come

19:37

to a complete stop. Complete silence. And

19:39

then you're supposed to perform. I

19:41

found that very, very intimidating when I was

19:44

a younger actor. I think I've made my

19:46

piece of it now, but it was a loss

19:48

to take on. It's

19:50

time for your next piece of music, Killian Murphy, number

19:52

five on your desert island discs today. What are we

19:54

going to hear and why? I went

19:56

through a big queen phase again in the 80s.

20:00

particular song has always been one of

20:02

my huge favorites and I and

20:04

I and I do listen to this quite often

20:06

I just adore everything about the song. Wendy Padone.

20:09

A lot like when I'm driving or

20:12

like if we have people around in the house or

20:14

just to feel good. It

20:17

just makes me feel good. Queen

20:31

and somebody

20:41

to love. Celine

20:51

Murphy in 2005 you

20:54

were cast as Dr. Jonathan Crane, scarecrow

20:56

in Christopher Nolan's film Batman Begins. And

20:58

that was the beginning of a continuing

21:01

collaboration between the two of you. What's

21:03

the essence of your relationship? We

21:05

don't hang out and go bowling or whatever

21:07

you like. You

21:10

know we are very close

21:12

colleagues and it's a lovely feeling to

21:14

walk on to assess and to feel

21:16

safe. And

21:18

also most importantly to be able to

21:20

make an agent of yourself

21:22

to be able to fail to be able

21:24

to get it wrong. To try stuff. Yeah

21:26

and I've always had that with him. I've

21:28

always felt that with him and it's

21:31

just a gift. I think in

21:33

the past you have been quite persistent when

21:35

you've gone after a part and that's

21:37

partly how you got to play kitten Braden

21:39

in Neil Jordan's film Breakfast on Pluto wasn't

21:42

it? You auditioned in 2001 but

21:44

kept going back to him until 2005 when he

21:46

finally got the funding to make it and he

21:48

was able to offer you the part. Yeah

21:50

I pastored him as well. Wore

21:53

him down and I

21:55

believe I might have written him a letter. I

21:57

was a big advocate for letter writing. the

22:00

early days. I met a director recently and

22:02

she said, you know you wrote me a letter 25

22:05

years ago. And I do think that's appreciated.

22:07

And I would say that to younger actors

22:09

to actually take the time to hand

22:11

write a letter and post that because no one

22:13

gets them anymore and they're such special things to

22:15

get. And I think you have to go after

22:18

stuff. If you really, really think you're the right

22:20

actor for it, you need to chase it down.

22:24

2006, you shot Ken Loach's film, The Wind That

22:26

Shakes the Bali and that went on to win

22:28

the palm door. Now he has said

22:30

that the key to your performance in that

22:32

film was that you allowed yourself to be

22:34

vulnerable. And I wonder what you

22:36

remember about your approach to that role. I

22:39

think you have to be vulnerable. I think it's

22:41

one of the most powerful tools you have as

22:43

an actor, vulnerability and empathy. And the way Ken

22:46

works, which is so unusual, is that

22:48

you don't get the script. You

22:50

shoot everything chronologically, but the events

22:52

happen in real time to the

22:54

character and to the actor.

22:57

So you're reacting in a completely instinctual, non-intellectual

23:00

way. And it changed

23:02

the way I approach work profoundly making

23:04

that film. In the story,

23:06

there was a sort of a traitor in the

23:08

flowing column. We didn't know this,

23:10

but at the beginning, he paired me with this

23:12

youngster and he had me working very

23:15

closely with this youngster. He went to boot camp and

23:17

took an army training and all that stuff. And

23:19

this is great little kid. He was a non-professional

23:21

actor, someone that Ken Fenn, Cork, great

23:24

little personality. And so we

23:26

really got on and we were really tight. And then turns

23:28

out later in the movie that he's the, he's

23:31

the traitor and he's the kid that I have

23:33

to, that my character has to shoot. But Ken

23:35

orchestrated it in such a way that it

23:37

was being more than him turning up and us

23:40

looking at the side of the movie. He

23:42

wasn't like, it was a really, I couldn't

23:44

believe it when I found out, like

23:46

I was devastated. And

23:48

that's just genius, you know,

23:50

to make that happen. So therefore when it happened

23:52

on screen, all of what I was feeling

23:55

was, was real, you know. It's

23:57

time for your sixth disc killing. What have

23:59

you chosen? So this is

24:01

a track from Radiohead and it's called Everything

24:04

in its Right Place. And this

24:06

particular tune was revolutionary for me

24:08

when I heard it. And they just made

24:10

Ok Computer and toured around it with the

24:12

biggest album and they were the biggest band. And

24:14

then they said, no, we're actually going to do

24:16

this. And I find it

24:19

very, very inspiring that they went, no,

24:21

we're not going to do what you think we're going to do. We're going

24:23

to do what we think we should do. And they put out this album.

24:26

I think sometimes more than my acting

24:30

colleagues or acting heroes, sometimes musicians,

24:33

their courage in the face of the industry or

24:36

the decisions they make, I mean, people

24:38

like John Lennon or Sinead

24:40

O'Connor or, you know, Radiohead, people like

24:42

that make you brave and they've always made

24:44

me brave, I think. Radiohead

25:16

and Everything in its Right Place.

25:19

In 2013, you took on a

25:22

role that was going to flex

25:24

every dramatic and other muscle that

25:26

you had. Tommy Shelby in the

25:28

BBC drama Peaky Blinders. How did

25:30

you persuade the writers, Stephen Knight,

25:32

that you were the right person? I

25:35

mean, I wasn't the obvious choice physically.

25:37

And I hadn't up to that point

25:39

played, I think, anyone who had that

25:41

sort of physical presence. I don't

25:43

know if I convinced him in the meeting, but I don't

25:45

know if this is apocryphal or he's just made it up

25:48

because it's a good story. But apparently afterwards, I sent him

25:50

a text saying, Remember, Steve, I'm

25:52

an actor. And I do

25:54

believe that I do think it's our Judy as

25:56

actors to transform to whatever the

25:59

part demands. And he was

26:01

generous enough to give me a go. And

26:03

I'm sure it helped being part of such a brilliant

26:05

cast, one of whom I have to ask you about.

26:08

Just before you started filming the

26:10

final series in 2021, your co-star,

26:13

Helen McCrory, who played the formidable

26:15

Aunt Polly, died of cancer. What

26:17

do you remember about that time? Because

26:20

you and Helen had met before Peaky

26:22

Blinders ever began, I think. Yeah,

26:24

we met, well, my goodness, back in

26:26

the 90s, I auditioned for her, I

26:28

remember. And I even remember then she

26:30

was just brilliant. Yeah,

26:32

she kind of brightened up every time. She would

26:35

make any... A lot of the time she would

26:37

be in fields or in

26:40

some bog somewhere. But Helen

26:42

was always funny and always

26:44

brightened up every size. I loved her.

26:47

I still really miss her. Of

26:50

course, you know, the series ended and you'd spent

26:52

10 years in the role. How did it feel

26:55

to leave it and say goodbye? Actually,

26:57

a total substitute was a little bit of a

26:59

relief at that point. I was ready to take

27:02

a little break. I felt like

27:04

we'd done such excellent work.

27:07

And I really loved the ambiguity of the ending.

27:09

It was a good time to have a little

27:11

respite from it. I think we all needed a

27:13

break from each other. Well, speaking of

27:15

what comes next, you know, everybody's talking

27:18

about the Peaky Blinders movie. Would you be up for

27:20

it? Totally. I mean, I've always said

27:22

that if there is more story to tell and

27:24

if Steve Knight delivers a script that I know

27:26

he can deliver because he's such a phenomenal writer,

27:29

I'll be there. I

27:31

mean, if we want to watch like 50

27:33

year old Tommy Shelby, let's do it. It's

27:36

time to hear your seventh disc, Killian

27:38

Murphy. What's coming up next? I

27:43

think they probably represent, in my

27:45

mind, one of the greatest artistic

27:48

achievements of the 20th century for me

27:50

personally, not just in musically, but in

27:53

terms of their humor and

27:55

their friendship and

27:57

their tolerance. I

28:00

love this song, I love the energy of it, I

28:02

love Hall's hope and

28:04

optimism and then John's kind

28:06

of acerbic, sort of realist,

28:08

middle-aged. He gives

28:11

us just perfection. It's a week

28:13

in market. I

28:30

love this song, it's a week in market.

28:34

I love

28:36

this song, it's a week in

28:38

market. I

28:41

love this

28:43

song, it's a week in market. The Beatles and

28:46

We Can Work It Out. Cillian Murphy, I wonder

28:48

how easy you find it to switch off after

28:50

a job, especially the intense ones. You

28:52

know, we're just talking about how inhabiting the

28:54

role of Tomi Shelby. Most

28:56

of your work is intense these days,

28:58

you know, big stories, you're attracted to

29:00

that kind of material. How

29:02

easy is it to switch lanes and disappear

29:04

into normal life again? It's difficult,

29:07

but I have a very, very understanding

29:09

family. They kind of know when I'm

29:11

re-emerging, you know, and I stop walking

29:13

like the character, you know, and I

29:15

know I'm just re-emerging. But you're

29:18

neither like the character or the civilian. You're

29:20

sort of just figuring it out. So

29:22

you're in a like, a liminal space for a while? Exactly, exactly. And

29:25

it's a bit odd for a while, but it's

29:27

nothing like people love to make it like this

29:30

big, melody thing. For me, it's not, it's just

29:33

trying to figure out what to do with my time. And

29:36

I wonder what having that family support, you know,

29:38

you've got your wife and your boys. I

29:40

wonder what that's allowed you to do,

29:42

whether that's given you more freedom. It's

29:45

been crucial, honestly. I don't think I

29:48

could have done any of the things

29:50

that we talked about without having... I've

29:53

been with my wife for 28 years now,

29:55

and it's been the most important thing for

29:57

me, you know, just having those kids and...

30:00

Raising them I I think because the this

30:02

sort of ancillary aspect of being an actor

30:04

is quite challenging to me the famous Oh

30:07

the noise around it exactly. Yeah, the kind

30:10

of noise To have

30:12

a really secure solid Where

30:21

it's just like an island of comfort and

30:23

ease Well, you said that

30:25

you know home and family is is one kind of

30:27

island for you I'm afraid I'm about to send you

30:29

off to another of course How

30:32

will you prepare yourself for the experience of the

30:34

desert island? I know you quite like your own

30:36

company you good on your own I'm not

30:38

bad. I'm getting better as I get older used

30:40

to be terrible when I was a youngster I

30:42

really could not stand to be on my own

30:44

for For more than a

30:46

few hours, but I'm getting better as I get older. I think

30:49

I'll be alright What about switching

30:51

off how are you how good are you at

30:54

relaxing not great honestly, it's

30:56

something I struggle with Listners

30:58

might have heard you reading a story on it

31:01

one of those meditation apps that's out there Oh,

31:03

yeah, I think your voice is there to soothe

31:05

people to sleep. I know Some girls

31:07

here easily said that his wife listened to that while she

31:09

was getting You

31:12

reading a very boring story about train travel

31:15

it's like so dull It's

31:17

just me talking about being on a train

31:19

rolling across Ireland, but then I think that's

31:21

the point of it It's

31:24

time for your next piece of music. What have you got for us?

31:26

There's an amazing amount of great music coming out of Ireland

31:28

at the moment and there was so much to choose from

31:32

But one of my favorite albums last year was

31:34

by an arts college on you everything

32:04

into everything

32:08

Lisa O'Neill and If I Was a Painter. So, Kelly

32:10

and Murphy, it's time for me to send you away

32:12

to the island. I'm going to give you the books

32:14

to take with you, the Bible, the

32:16

complete works of Shakespeare, and you can select a

32:19

book of your own to take. What would you

32:21

like? This

32:23

is a really pretentious choice. Okay.

32:25

So just to get that out

32:27

there. Yes. I have the complete

32:29

works of Samuel Beckett as home,

32:32

and it has a beautiful, beautiful portrait of

32:34

him, looking very, it was

32:37

sort of very stern and beautiful face,

32:40

looking down at me because I have not

32:42

taken it down. I've read it,

32:45

and it's one of my favorite writers,

32:47

and it's such a body of work,

32:49

it's all of us. So this is

32:51

the dramatic works, includes the novels as

32:53

well. Everything. Okay. Everything. And I

32:56

know I need to read it all, and I

32:59

will. And this would

33:01

be the perfect opportunity to start at the start

33:03

and the end at the end. Oh, yeah, definitely. You can have

33:06

that. I quite like the idea of you having him on

33:08

the island to just keep you right. It would be

33:10

nice. You could be a companion. Yeah, with that beautiful

33:12

portrait, yeah, looking at me, I'd put him up on

33:14

a rock. Absolutely. You can

33:16

also have a luxury item. What will that be? I

33:18

mean, I take a guitar. Do

33:21

you still play? I mess around. Maps don't

33:23

play as much as I should, but that

33:26

would keep me going. If I could be creative

33:28

in some way, you know, just I think I'd

33:31

get very agitated if I couldn't make

33:34

something. And finally, which track

33:36

of the eight that you shared with us today,

33:38

would you save from the wave first if you needed

33:40

to? This has been really, really

33:42

hard. And I think it would have to

33:44

be The Beatles because I think the sentiment

33:46

of that song would keep me going throughout.

33:49

And it's quite jolly. I think I'll leave a bit of

33:51

a G up. Killian

33:53

Murphy, thank you very much for letting us hear your

33:55

desert island discs. Thanks, Tom. It was a pleasure. Hello,

34:19

I hope you enjoyed my conversation with

34:21

Killian. I'm sure Samuel Beckett will keep

34:24

him busy on the island. We've cast

34:26

away many actors including Samantha Morton, Wendell

34:28

Pierce and Anne-Marie Duff, Killian's director colleagues

34:31

Christopher Nolan and Ken Lauter in our

34:33

back catalog too. You can find these

34:35

episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme

34:38

archives and through BBC Science. The studio

34:40

manager for today's programme was Jackie Margeram,

34:42

the assistant producer was Christine Pabloski and

34:45

the producer was Paula McGinley. The series

34:47

editor is John Gowdy. Next

34:49

time my guest will be the volcanologist

34:51

Clive Oppenheimer. I do hope you'll join

34:54

us. On

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