"It was brilliant" - Scots Peaky Blinders extra reveals all as last ever series comes to a conclusion

Ashleigh Bass stars in the hit series which included scenes from Portsoy

Ashleigh briefly met Cillian Murphy on set
Author: Liam RossPublished 4th Apr 2022
Last updated 4th Apr 2022

A North-East man's telling us about his role as a "spit guy" in the hit series Peaky Blinders.

Ashleigh Bass was used an extra while the cast and crew were in Portsoy filming scenes for the sixth season.

The 34-year-old featured in first episode of the last series, where Michael Gray - played by Finn Cole - asks him a question in French.

Ashleigh's character responds by spitting in his direction.

Ashleigh (left) who starred as a "spit guy" on Peaky Blinders

Ashleigh was already acting as an extra, when the added role of "spit guy" came up by chance.

He said: "I went to the auditions and I got just a callback to say I could go down as an extra, a barrel boy initially.

"On the Tuesday afterwards, we did about 13 hours of recording on and off and then on the Friday we got another 5 hours of filming done.

"The assistant director then asked if we could get an idiot to do this extra part , ‘spit guy.’"

"It was brilliant."

"We did a couple of takes just to get the camera angles right, but once they got it sorted I think we took about two attempts.

"I think Michael messed up his lines in French twice, but that was alright."

Acting just a "one-off" - Ashleigh Bass

Ashleigh also revealed how he met the show's main character, but the Aberdeenshire man's not pursuing a career in acting.

He added: "I met Cillian Murphy just briefly, but it was good.

"All the behind the scenes crew were brand new, they had a lot of time for everybody.

"I’m trying to stay off social media because I haven’t seen the last episode. I have read something, which may have spoiled it for myself.

"If the bit I have read on social media is true, then I dare say tourism will be booming this summer.

"I think that was probably just a once off.

"It’s like a bucket list, now that it’s done I can move on."

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