Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy is Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders, where his unruly delivery is an excellent match for Cillian Murphy's watchfulness. Alfie can turn a business discussion into a rambling argument whose destination only he appears to know. Hardy makes the humour and the threat difficult to separate.

Taboo gives him the central role of James Keziah Delaney, returning to nineteenth-century London with business of his own. In MobLand, he plays Harry Da Souza, a fixer working for a criminal family. All three roles use his physical presence, but the performances have different rhythms: Alfie talks around a point that Delaney might prefer to stare straight through.

His film career includes Bronson, Warrior, Locke and Mad Max: Fury Road. The confined setting of Locke is a useful contrast to the larger productions: a driver's seat, a telephone and Hardy's voice carry the film.