Look out, Tommy – trouble’s brewing

PEAKY BLINDERS, BBC2

It seems everyone’s into craft gin these days.

Even calculating crime lord Tommy Shelby is having a go at distilling.

Then again, the head of the Peaky Blinders seems in need of a stiff drink.

He’s still playing cat and mouse with the mafia led by vengeful Luca Changretta.

As the period drama continues thumping us with intersecting plotlines, mounting tension, violence, glamour and flashes of dark humour, the once unflappable Tommy (Cillian Murphy) is on the ropes.

He’s facing a factory strike, been hoodwinked by the Italians and has lost his mojo with the ladies. He can’t even make a decent gin.

But that’s the least of his problems as matriarch Polly (Helen McCrory) plots with Luca (Adrien Brody) to sacrifice him for the good of the family.

Unless it all turns out to be a mega double bluff, that pits Tommy up against his most formidable opponent yet.

And after the shock series opener, we know no Shelby is invincible.

Will they both survive to season five, which creator Steven Knight has hinted will be the last?

Surely Tommy will outsmart everyone, as always, but who’ll get caught in the crossfire?

It’s all working up to a brilliant, bloody finale. I might just need one of Tommy’s gins to get me through it.

GINO’S ITALIAN COASTAL ESCAPE, STV

Bubbly telly chef Gino D’Acampo is so stereotypically Italian in his new cookery show, filmed on his home turf, it feels he could burst into ‘Just One Cornetto’ while cooking risotto on a rooftop at any moment.

Still, the stunning scenery and mouth-watering dishes on display do look delizioso.