Growing up in one of the less salubrious parts of South London in the early 1980s, a young man named Paul Anderson dreamed of becoming a rock star. “I always wanted to be a frontman in a band,” he recalls. ‘Not a football player. Not an actor. Certainly not a police officer or firefighter.”
But an actor he became, one who rose to fame ten years ago – in his mid-30s – thanks to his impressive role as gangster Arthur Shelby in the BBC drama Peaky Blinders.
The series, about a fictional crime family from Birmingham between the two world wars, became a cult film not just in Britain but around the world – and Anderson’s performance as the troubled, drug-addicted Arthur was seen as key to its success.
Roles in Hollywood blockbusters followed, including alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the gloomy 2015 western The Revenant. For years, few could have imagined that Anderson’s future career looked anything other than stellar.
Until now.
For in a poignant case where life mirrors – or perhaps even surpasses – art, his world seems to have slipped off the rails in a way that might have come as a shock even to the troubled and depressed Arthur Shelby.
Peaky Blinders star Paul Anderson leaves a bakery near his north London home looking emaciated
In late January it emerged that Anderson had been fined for possession of drugs, including crack cocaine, following an incident at his local pub on Boxing Day in which he was found ‘drunk’ and in possession of a crack pipe. And no sooner had his fans digested this unedifying fall from grace than he was photographed last week emerging from a bakery near his north London home looking almost unrecognizable.
Gaunt and with heavily drawn features, the shuffling Anderson looked perhaps twenty years older than his 46 years.
The transformation, along with the drug conviction, has led to speculation that Anderson will not be invited to reprise his role as Arthur in the highly anticipated – and recently confirmed – climactic film version of Peaky Blinders, which is reportedly set to begin filming in early summer.
If so, this would be a bitter blow for Anderson, as it comes against the backdrop of the continued, glittering success of his co-stars on the show.
Just last week, Cillian Murphy, who played Arthur’s ambitious younger brother Tommy, won the Bafta for Best Actor for his spellbinding performance as the eponymous scientist in Oppenheimer. Meanwhile, Joe Cole, who played another brother, John, was Bafta nominated for an episode of Charlie Brooker’s dark thriller series Black Mirror.
During Covid it seems his behavior started to unravel
Then there’s Tom Hardy, who played London crime boss Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders and with whom Anderson became so close during filming that he called him “my brother.”
Hardy has spoken candidly about his own addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine as a young man, saying he “spiralled out of control” before seeking help in his 20s. Since then, his career has gone from strength to strength, including an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in The Revenant.
All this makes Anderson’s fall even more poignant.
Anderson grew up in Kennington, south London, where his mother was a barmaid, and left school at the age of 14.
While dreaming of being a rock star, he made money working as an illegal ticket seller, earning him the nickname “Boycie” after Del Boy Trotter’s wheeler-dealer friend from Only Fools and Horses.
But operating outside the law proved to be his talent. In 2008, aged 29, Anderson approached a Chelsea fan who wanted a seat for the Champions League match against Manchester United. The fan’s name was Nick Love and he turned out to be a respected film director.
In a scene straight out of a movie, Love heard Anderson’s gruff South London accent and decided that, despite his lack of experience, he would be perfect for the role of football hooligan Bex in the 2009 film The Firm.
“I happened to be outside, and I dealt with some tickets and exchanged them for money,” Anderson later recalled. “He was with a bunch of friends and I sold them tickets.”
Paul Anderson plays Arthur Shelby in BBC hit Brummie gangster show Peaky Blinders
Love enjoyed working with him so much that he cast him in his film version of The Sweeney starring Ray Winstone. Anderson also appeared in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows alongside Robert Downey Jr. – and became so determined to perfect his new craft that he enrolled in drama school, describing it as the “university experience I never had.”
In 2013, he was cast as Arthur Shelby, a character that fans quickly took to their hearts. “A lot of people say, ‘We love Arthur,’ and I think I understand,” Anderson once told an interviewer. It was also a part he came to understand deeply – perhaps because of his own demons.
“What I like about him and why I like playing him is that he’s not just one-dimensional,” Anderson has said. ‘He’s tough and he can be violent and brutal, but he’s not alone. He has an inner turmoil, a dichotomy: ‘I don’t want to do this, but I do it because it’s my life and that’s the way things are.’ He is not turning a new leaf and is not a God-fearing, devout, nice man. He’s still suffering.’
It is unclear whether he can now star in the Peaky Blinders film
With fame came fortune. After parts in 2015 crime thriller Legend and 2017 western Hostiles alongside Christian Bale, Anderson bought a £1.2 million mews house in leafy Hampstead, north London. He was rumored to be dating jewelry designer Stephy Clark, founder of cult brand Steph Metal, although their relationship status was never made public.
But in 2019, he said, “I often feel like an impostor in my life” — and during the pandemic, it seems his behavior started to unravel.
In January 2023, it emerged that producers were investigating his behavior on the set of Peaky Blinders following a complaint from a colleague, details of which have not been revealed. Then came that incident on Boxing Day.
Police were called to the pub when a drinker told the manager that there was an odor of drugs coming from the disabled toilet after the actor left it. Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court later heard that police found an ‘intoxicated’ Anderson with a young man and a 17-month-old baby.
He was taken to a police station where it was discovered that he had crack cocaine, a packet of brown powder identified as amphetamines, diazepam and pregabalin. He tested positive for opiates and cocaine.
Paul Anderson alongside his Peaky Blinders co-stars Joe Cole and Bafta winner Cillian Murphy
Anderson subsequently admitted possession of crack cocaine, as well as Class B amphetamines and two Class C prescription substances. In mitigation, defense lawyer Moira MacFarlane claimed that he sometimes struggled to let go of the expectations attached to his on-screen alter ego sail when confronted by fans.
“He is often recognized and does his best to please fans of the show by delving into his character,” Ms. MacFarlane explained. ‘He was recognized on Boxing Day and tried to stand up for these people. And because of the lifestyle he leads, people often give him incentives.” True or not, this seemed to make little difference to the magistrate, who fined Anderson £1,345.
Where this belief and Anderson’s disturbing physical appearance leave his professional commitments is anyone’s guess. While Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight is believed to still be working on the film’s script, it’s unclear whether Anderson would (or could) now play a role in what has always been a crucial role in the story.
However, it seems that the actor himself has not given up hope of reprising the character that made his name. Last week, in response to a comment on an Instagram post in which a fan had written, “On behalf of The Peaky Blinders,” Anderson replied, “Forever.”
And let’s not forget that if life reflects art, Arthur Shelby is nothing but a man dreaming of better times. “My heart is a battered vessel,” he proclaims in one of his most memorable lines. “But inside there still beats the fluttering pulse of a dream.”
One wonders if this embattled fallen star would say the same, despite his recent setbacks.
