“No means there’s a yes coming,” he emphasized. “So, if someone says no, it means that somewhere out there is something that’s coming towards you. Just keep going. Don’t worry about it, it’ll find you and knock you over. But when they say no, it means you’re available for the one that’s coming.”

For Tim, he just so happened to be available for when Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight came knocking for his new movie, four years after the beloved TV series came to an end.

And the 64-year-old was certainly up for the task in playing the villainous Beckett, a Nazi sympathizer who arrives in Birmingham with a task for the titular gang and winds up at war with Cillian’s iconic now-retired crime boss Tommy Shelby.

Despite being a newcomer to the story—Sophie Rundle, Stephen Graham, Ned Dennehy and Packy Lee are among the returning faces—Tim found it was helpful to not immerse himself into the Peaky Blinders world. After all, Beckett wasn’t necessarily keeping the closest of tabs on the Shelbys up in Small Heath.