PEAKY BLINDERS

Our catch up with TV’S number-one (and bestdressed) – gangster family dynasty

SEASON 2 SEASON 1

Birmingham, 1919. The Peaky Blinders gang – named after their flat caps in which they hide razorblades to blind anyone who dares cross them – are led by the charismatic Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), along with his psychotically violent older brother Arthur (Paul Anderson) and hard-as-nails Aunt Polly (Helen Mccrory). The Shelbys have –literally – fought their way from being a poor gypsy family to a criminal force to be reckoned with. When they steal a consignment of government rifles, Winston Churchill sends Inspector Campbell (Sam Neill) to deal with the Blinders. The Shelbys continue to expand their criminal empire, but there are plenty of people wanting to relieve them of their everincreasing wealth. Step forward Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons — an East End Jewish gangster with a fondness for ultra-violence. Tommy has a romance with aristocratic May (Charlotte Riley) and the Shelbys have had enough of Campbell, so Polly shoots him.

SEASON 3

It’s 1924 and Tommy has a formidable new enemy in the shape of distinctly unholy priest, Father Hughes (played by Paddy Considine). Tommy gets involved in a money-making scheme with some double-crossing Russians, and the season ends with all of the Peaky Blinders being arrested while Tommy watches.

SEASON 4

The Sicilian mafia turn their attention to the Peakys, with Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody) vowing to kill all of the Shelbys. Arthur is seemingly murdered at a boxing match – but it’s all a trick to get Changretta on the back foot. Realising that Solomons has betrayed him, Tommy meets him on a beach and shoots him. The final scenes see Tommy being elected as an MP.

AND NOW IN SEASON 5…

Tommy takes up his seat in parliament and meets Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin). But as the shady family business flourishes, the Shelbys face another threat from a rival gang – The Billy Boys from Glasgow. Business as usual, then.