Helen McCrory and Cillian Murphy halted Peaky Blinders production due to coronavirus concerns

Helen McCrory and Cillian Murphy called for production on Peaky Blinders to be halted last month because they were "uncomfortable" filming as the coronavirus pandemic began to escalate.

TV and film productions across the world have now gone on hiatus due to the spread of the Covid-19 disease, with many governments bringing in lockdowns that stop people leaving their homes for non-essential reasons.

Shooting on Peaky Blinders was officially halted on 16 March, four days before U.K. officials announced pubs, restaurants and bars would have to close, and Helen has now revealed that she, Cillian and the show's producers asked the BBC to halt production before they were told to.

McCrory recalled how she was doing hair and make-up tests when she felt "something very big is coming" and no longer wanted to continue her work on the hit show.

"The next morning I woke and told my producer, 'I'm not comfortable doing this anymore..' Cillian Murphy did the same," she told Deadline.com. "Together with the producers, we approached the BBC and said we're going to pull this now before we have to do this down the line."

The actress, who plays Polly Gray, the matriarch of the Shelby gangster family, added that TV work is currently "terribly unimportant". Instead, she and her husband Damian Lewis have been fundraising to get meals delivered to health workers fighting Covid-19 in Britain.

"We haven't slept and we're on the phone all the time," she said of their project. "You're improvising and making it up as you go along because it's never been done before. Now we've got a website up, feednhs.com, and on that website, hospitals can tap on and leave details."

Helen and Damian have now helped raise almost $1 million (£810,000) for the cause through a JustGiving page, and fundraising efforts like comedian Matt Lucas' charity single, Thank You Baked Potato.