Stephen Graham was set to join 'Peaky Blinders' season six before coronavirus delay

The coronavirus pandemic has deprived people of many things — including, it turns out, Stephen Graham popping up in Peaky Blinders.

Graham, fresh from appearing alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in The Irishman, told The Sun that he was on board for the sixth season of the BBC crime drama until it was delayed.

He said: “I was supposed to be starting Peaky Blinders but that has been put on hold indefinitely.

“My agent spent a lot of time putting that together.”

Read more: Peaky Blinders creator hints at spin-off series

In March, Peaky Blinders officially announced via Instagram that the show had halted production on season six, which had been due to start imminently.

The This is England actor will be the latest high-profile star to join the Peaky Blinders cast, following in the footsteps of Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody and Sam Claflin — who played fascist MP Oswald Mosley in season five.

Graham is expected to resume his role in the show when filming restarts.

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Cillian Murphy, who plays gang leader Tommy Shelby in the show, shared a message of his own with fans.

He wrote: “We will be back as soon as we can, I promise... causing chaos and knocking heads as usual.

“I wanna send a special thank you to all our wildly talented crew for all their hard work and talent, and for their forbearance and patience during this time.”

Graham will be seen next in Sky comedy series Code 404, in which he plays a cop who is grieving the death of his colleague (Daniel Mays) until he returns as a technologically-enhanced officer.

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He previously worked with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight in last year’s A Christmas Carol adaptation for the BBC.

Knight cast the 46-year-old as Jacob Marley in the new, dark take on the Charles Dickens story.