Perton youngster Alfie stars in gritty BBC drama Peaky Blinders

Eleven-year-old Alfie Evans-Meese stars in the first major role of his fledgling acting career in BBC2's Peaky Blinders, which garnered rave reviews when it began last week.

The gritty period drama features the not-so-child-friendly themes of guns, gangs, and gambling, Alfie's parents do not want him to watch the programme. And he said: "I know there are rude parts in it, so I can accept I'm probably a bit young to watch it."

"My mum says I might be able to see some of the bits I'm in, but I will just have to wait until I'm a bit older to see the whole thing."

Alfie plays Finn Shelby, youngest brother of Tommy Shelby, leader of the notorious Blinders gang which terrorised the Small Heath and Bordesley areas of Birmingham in the early 20th century.

And while sharing a set with Hollywood big shots like Cillian Murphy, who plays Tommy, and Helen McCrory would be a daunting prospect for many seasoned actors, Alfie has taken it all in his stride.

In fact, according to the Perton youngster his biggest challenge was keeping hold of his sweets.

"The first day of filming was a bit of a shock as I had never been on a set before and there were so many well known actors there," he said.

"I love Harry Potter, so being with Helen was amazing, and Cillian is one of my favourite actors. But they were really kind and helped me to get used to everything. Sam Neill was really funny – he kept pinching my Haribos."

Alfie took three months away from his studies at Perton First School at the end of last year to film the six-part series in Liverpool, Leeds and the Black Country Living Museum.

On chaperone duty during his time away was Alfie's mother Sadie, who took time off from her job at Lloyds Bank in Wolverhampton to accompany him. "Wherever Alfie went, I went with him, we were joined at the hip," she said.

"Young actors are really well looked after on set, they even get one-to-one tuition to make up for the time they are away. None of it seemed to phase Alfie one bit, I think I was more nervous than him." Sadie says her son's talents were first noticed when he played a lead role in a school production of Ant and Dec two years ago.

"He had never really shown much interest in acting at home, but one of his teachers, Mrs Butterworth, suggested we should enrol him in a drama school," she said.

"He is not really bothered about football so when he told us he enjoyed it on stage we thought we would encourage him to pursue his interest. We found a school nearby with a good reputation and everything just moved on really quickly from there."

The place in question is the Pauline Quirke Academy at Aldersley High School in Codsall, where Alfie attends. Principal Julian Elcock put him forward for the Peaky Blinders auditions.

"They were looking for an actor with a certain type of look and personality and Alfie fitted the bill perfectly," said Mr Elcock. Alfie is attending further auditions, having made cameo appearances in other BBC shows like Doctors and Crimewatch.

He said: "I've loved being an actor so far but I've really only just started out. Hopefully I will get more parts because this is something I really want to do."

Peaky Blinders is on BBC2 on Thursday nights.