Cillian Murphy has vowed 'Peaky Blinders' will be "darker and weirder" in series three.

Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy

The 39-year-old actor stars in BBC Two's gritty historic British gangster series as head mobster Tommy Shelby and has revealed the growing Birmingham gang is heading to Russia where they'll consort with tougher criminals and be met with twists and turns that will undoubtedly shock fans.

Murphy was thrilled when the show's creator Steve Knight told him what was in-store for him and his co-stars ahead of shooting.

Speaking to Digital Spy, he said: "The way we left the second series, the natural progression would've been to go to America - that's where you'd see bootlegging and Prohibition and all of that.

"But what did was just take the opposite tack and go east, to get involved with Russia. That gives it a much more interesting flavour - it's much f*****g darker and weirder and more interesting."

The drama has always offered viewers a lot of violence with baby-faced Tommy confidently leading the Shelby Clan since series one, which was set in 1919, but now in series three, which is set five years later, Cillian's alter ego is stretching his abilities as an actor.

He explained: "There's no point in just replicating what you've done before - you have to push it. But there were times where I was like... f***ingg hell ... What we're doing with Tommy now is a massive departure - certainly from series one, and from two - but that has to happen. Four or five years have passed in the characters' lives since we first met them, so you have to push it."

And with Paddy Considine signing on to the hit series as a rogue priest, Murphy promised more drama will ensue closer to home.

Speaking about the man of the church, he said: " You're not going to like this one!

"He's got power, he's got influence, and absolute power can create these people who just do whatever they want, and don't go back and think about it, because there's no world in which they wouldn't be able to do that.

"I think that's the definition of evil... and that's what he is!"

Series three of 'Peaky Blinders' ​returns to BBC Two on Thursday night (05.05.16) at 9pm.

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