Blinding finale...but Arthur steals show
SO FAREWELL then, Peaky Blinders (BBC One, Sunday). At least from television. Tommy and Arthur Shelby have lived to fight another day. Dear Arthur, a man who would swing at his own shadow if he could find it, all but disappeared for the last 10 minutes. He went on walkabout from the gypsy camp where Tommy was giving himself the last rites before toddling off to his own plush shepherd’s hut in a field – Britain’s first glamper – where he intended to do the final, final deed.
Never has a drama character had such a long, wallowing farewell… to no end.
Had he not seen Life On Mars when
John Simm’s DI Sam Tyler leapt decisively from the top of a building? That’s an end, Tommy.
It was Arthur (Paul Anderson) who provided me with the most entertainment over six series. His without-filter lifestyle made him one of the greatest ever anti-role models on television. He did everything before thinking about it.
Although he didn’t want the final scrap with the IRA on home turf – “I don’t want to spoil my pub”. Quite right.
He did spoil the IRA’S evening amidst the swirling fog and choking mustard gas, refusing to spare one of the terrorist leaders who pleaded with him at the end.
“Vengeance is for the Lord,” she gasped. “Not in Small Heath,” burbled Arthur, before dispensing Peaky Blinders-style justice over the death of dear Aunt Polly.
Did any of it hang together? Not really, though we didn’t care.
A principled Tommy refused an invitation to, ahem, sample the benches on the Tory side of the House with Fascist Diana Mitford, and rightly realised that nephew Michael would bomb his car. That was… very clever.
Two annoyances. Who would pay for a £5million haul of illegal opium with a banker’s draft? It’s still out there! And why did we hardly hear the iconic theme tune in the series? Not a squeak in the final episode.
But there was the sneaky introduction of the new generation. Young Duke, with a Peaky buzzcut, took his rightful place in Small Heath, and found his way around a firearm quite competently, thus leaving the way open for another series one day, perhaps. But first, there will be a film. Get those wagons in a circle, Tommy! Bring Arthur along – if you can find him.
The finale of Holding (ITV, Monday) was an altogether different affair, with fewer gunshots but with as much booze consumed in Duneen, Cork, as Small Heath, Birmingham.
We finally nailed a killer in the final of four very engaging episodes, created from the Graham Norton novel.
The show wasn’t a great advertisement for small town Ireland – suicide, murder, adultery, unwanted pregnancy, unrequited love, rape, bad driving…and cancer. Small wonder Duneen has a great pub. Not that it was a dreary affair. For all the apparent misery, everyone was jolly.
All eyes, however, were focused on the love affair between Brid and PJ, from the local Garda. Having found each other’s friendship in the most frantic clinch of the year – beating any in newly chaste Bridgerton – it did appear by the end of the series that Brid was staying put. Shame, the country was cheering you on.
It hasn’t been difficult to encourage people to get together in the return of
The Split (BBC One, Monday). It’s more about prising them apart. It starred Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan, wedged somewhere between a decree nisi and a decree absolute. Walker’s Hannah was not sure, while Mangan’s Nathan was fully signed up.
In the least busy family law practice ever, people were constantly striding into offices, barking confidently, “I want a divorce!”, before handing over a blank cheque. The latest was a heart surgeon who was chucking her husband of decades for no apparent reason.
Hey, we all have bad days.
It’s all incredibly middle-class too, with everyone taking taxis while largely ignoring their children until they’re reminded of their existence over a hasty, kitchen island breakfast. The family matriarch, played by Deborah Findlay, was also recording a podcast at the dinner table. Yes, smug is the word. No cost-of-living crisis here.
And finally... Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship (BBC Two, Sunday) was a riveting account of this transatlantic twosome who held together one of the world’s great alliances. It did have its strains, according to Thatcher biographer Charles
Moore, especially during the Falklands when US Secretary of State Alexander Haig wanted a UN peace solution.
I imagine Maggie’s handbag was “wielded” to great effect. But while the US was keeping a foot in both camps, it was happily supplying us through the Ascension Islands.
There were many lessons for today.
And we might learn from them one day – just don’t hold your breath. But you had to give it to Reagan. He knew how to deal with the Russians... negotiate from strength.