Cillian Murphy embarrassed by compliments

Cillian Murphy tells his co-star to stop being "ridiculous" when she compliments his eyes.

The actor stars as gangster boss Tommy Shelby in the TV show Peaky Blinders, with Annabelle Wallis appearing as Grace Burgess. Cillian is known for his chiselled appearance, something Annabelle is still trying to get to grips with.

"Sometimes, when we're doing a scene, I'm like, 'I can't do this; I keep getting lost in the ocean of your eyes!' He's like, 'Stop being ridiculous!' I call him 'chisel cheeks' because he's got the most incredible bone structure; it's like a joke," she laughed to British magazine InStyle.

Peaky Blinders is back with a second series, after the first went down a storm with critics. Fans can expect many more fight scenes, which is just as exciting for Cillian, because they give him an opportunity to test himself. In real life he isn't much of an action hero, so he works hard to ensure he's as believable as possible.

"I'm a wimp so it was great for me to play a street fighting man, a guy who can look after himself," he recently laughed to BBC. "It involved going to the gym a lot and being... you know those guys who just carry themselves a certain way, so I enjoyed that aspect of it. I loved doing all the fight scenes; it was a lot of fun."

The new season sees Tom Hardy joining the cast, with Cillian hinting the two male characters will come to blows. It's something he's excited about, explaining having actors of that calibre to "knock about with" is always a good thing.