Peaky Blinders game star on playing Polly: "She's the heart, to me"

radiotimes.com:

Creating the VR game Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom presented one major problem for the British developers from Maze Theory.

The tragic passing of Helen McCrory, who played matriarch Polly Gray in the beloved Birmingham-based TV sensation, left the game with a hole in its heart.

The King's Ransom was always meant to explore the "missing years" between the fourth and fifth seasons of the show, a time when Polly was very much on the scene.

Producer Russ Harding told us last year: «Polly does appear in the game. She is in the game. But rather than mimicking Helen, we're working with an actress to take on Polly and build around her legacy of that character.»

And now RadioTimes.com has had a chance to chat with that actress, Ruth Gibson, who has faced the unenviable task of stepping into McCrory's shoes to take on the role of Polly in the game.

«I've always been a big fan of Helen's,» Gibson tells us over a video call. Noting that her path into the acting industry first took her to theatre work, Gibson says that she's «been in the West End simultaneously» with McCrory at various points in her career.

As well as appearing in live-action roles (you might recognise Gibson from the likes of Call the Midwife), Gibson has worked in video games and other forms of voice acting many times over the years, including roles in The Witcher 2 and James Bond 007: Blood Stone. When Gibson first heard about the upcoming Peaky Blinders game, McCrory was still with us.

«The audition came through via my agent,» Gibson recalls, «and originally it was for the motion capture for Polly, because Helen at that point was contracted to do the voice work. And I was obviously immediately excited because I love working in motion capture.

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