Charlotte Riley joins fiance Tom Hardy in Peaky Blinders

(Image credit: ABACA/Press Association Images)

Charlotte Riley is joining the cast of Peaky Blinders.

The actress, whose TV roles include The Town, World Without End and Wuthering Heights, is following in the footsteps of her fiance, Tom Hardy, by appearing in the forthcoming second series of BBC2's period gangster drama.

Charlotte, who will soon appear in Hollywood blockbuster Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and in BBC1's adaptation of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, will play an aristocrat who encounters gang boss Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, as he starts to move in upper-crust circles.

It was announced last month that The Dark Knight Rises star Tom will play a charismatic man who tries to do a deal with Tommy.

Game of Thrones' Taylor will also feature in the new series as an antagonist who causes problems for Tommy and his plans to expand his criminal empire.

The new six-part series is currently filming in Birmingham and will screen later this year.

Caren has been a journalist specializing in TV for almost two decades and is a Senior Features Writer for TV Times, TV & Satellite Week and What’s On TV magazines and she also writes for What to Watch.

Over the years, she has spent many a day in a muddy field or an on-set catering bus chatting to numerous stars on location including the likes of Olivia Colman, David Tennant, Suranne Jones, Jamie Dornan, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Derek Jacobi as well as Hollywood actors such as Glenn Close and Kiefer Sutherland.

Caren will happily sit down and watch any kind of telly (well, maybe not sci-fi!), but she particularly loves period dramas like Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey and The Crown and she’s also a big fan of juicy crime thrillers from Line of Duty to Poirot.

In her spare time, Caren enjoys going to the cinema and theatre or curling up with a good book.