Thomas Michael Shelby is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the British period crime drama Peaky Blinders. He is played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who has won two Irish Film & Television Awards and two National Television Awards for his portrayal of Shelby. The character has received critical acclaim.
Director Steven Knight cast Cillian Murphy for the role of Tommy Shelby. The character is introduced as a First World War veteran from a family with Romani ancestry, whose criminal enterprise is centred in Birmingham. The narrative begins in 1919, and largely revolves around Shelby's romance with Grace Burgess and his conflict with Inspector Campbell. As the series progresses, Shelby's relationship with mob boss Alfie Solomons is a key element in many of the storylines.
Casting and background Cillian Murphy had expressed an interest in doing more television roles, "Those iconic American shows had been on and we watched them and everyone was kind of conscious of that. I think the BBC were conscious of that and so I was keen to read some good scripts and they [Peaky Blinders] were the first TV scripts I got sent". Murphy admitted that he was not aware of who the Peaky Blinders were when he was initially presented with the script.
Jason Statham was initially preferred for the role by director Steven Knight, who explains "I met them both in LA to talk about the role and opted for Jason. [...] Cillian, when you meet him, isn't Tommy, obviously, but I was stupid enough not to understand that". Knight then opted to cast Murphy instead after receiving a text message from Murphy that read "Remember, I'm an actor".
Although many characters in the series are based on real-life historical figures, most of the Peaky Blinders are entirely fictional and were created by Knight. Tommy Shelby is from a Romani family based in Birmingham. Murphy spent time with Romani people to prepare himself for the role. Shelby is a veteran of the First World War and has post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his experiences during the war; something that is a recurring theme throughout the series. Shelby sports an undercut hairstyle and this has led to a resurgence in its popularity.
Fictional biography Early life Thomas Michael Shelby was born in Birmingham, England, around 1890 to an Irish Traveller and Romani family. Arthur Jnr was the oldest of the 5 siblings born in 1887. He grew up in the Small Heath neighbourhood of Birmingham. Thomas was the second of 5 children of Arthur Shelby Sr and Mrs Shelby. He dated Greta Jurossi, a woman of Italian descent during his 20s, but she died of tuberculosis. His experiences as a sergeant major during the First World War have resulted in him suffering from PTSD and it is implied he returned from it as a changed man.
Storylines
Series 1 In 1919, Tommy leads the Peaky Blinders into appropriating a consignment of guns from the Birmingham Small Arms factory. Inspector Campbell (Sam Neill) is tasked by Winston Churchill (Andy Nyman) to find the guns and, unbeknownst to Tommy, his new barmaid Grace Burgess (Annabelle Wallis) is working undercover for Inspector Campbell. Tommy is involved with fixing horse races, which has potential for conflict with Billy Kimber (Charlie Creed-Miles), who runs the races.
Inspector Campbell instructs Grace to get close to Tommy so that he can find the location of the guns. Grace attends the Cheltenham races as Tommy's date. Tommy saves Grace from harm after initially offering her to Kimber, as part of a deal for the Peaky Blinders to become the security at Kimber's establishment. Tommy obtains a betting licence for his business and hires Grace as his brother Arthur Shelby's (Paul Anderson) secretary at the Garrison, which the Peaky Blinders own. Tommy and Grace become romantically involved. Grace tells Inspector Campbell, if she gives him the location of the guns, he has to leave Tommy and his family alone. Grace gives up the location to Inspector Campbell and resigns service to the crown.
As she has resigned, and the guns found, with the exception of one, Inspector Campbell proposes marriage, which Grace rejects because she is in love with Thomas. Tommy gathers the Peaky Blinders and another family, the Lees, and they take on Kimber's men. This leads to a confrontation where Tommy shoots Kimber dead. Tommy meets Grace and she tells him she loves him and will go to London for a few days. Tommy meets with his aunt Polly Gray (Helen McCrory) and she informs him that Grace is the reason Inspector Campbell found the guns. The series ends with a gunshot as Inspector Campbell confronts Grace at the railway station.
Series 2 Grace is revealed to have shot Inspector Campbell, but Inspector Campbell survives. Tommy, Arthur and their brother John Shelby (Joe Cole) decide to get familiar with the London scene and start a fight at Darby Sabini's (Noah Taylor) club. In retaliation, Sabini has his thugs kidnap and attempt to rape Tommy's sister Ada Thorne (Sophie Rundle), as well as beat Tommy up. Inspector Campbell intervenes before Sabini and his men can finish him off. Inspector Campbell has agreed with Churchill (Richard McCabe) that Tommy will be useful to them.
Tommy discharges himself from hospital early and takes a barge down to London. Tommy meets with gang leader Alfie Solomons (Tom Hardy) there. Tommy has a hard time convincing Alfie that he should align with the Peaky Blinders against Sabini. Tommy and John meet with Billy Kitchen (Paul Bullion), of the Black Country Boys, who fought with them in the war. Tommy tells Billy to round up his men for them to go to work in Camden Town for Alfie. Tommy becomes romantically involved with horse trainer May Carleton (Charlotte Riley).
Alfie and Sabini meet and form an alliance against the Peaky Blinders. Alfie deceives Arthur and has him sent to prison. Tommy finds his fledgling empire crumbling before him, as his power-base in London is obliterated. Tommy further complicates his love life, by escorting the returning Grace to a passionate date, though still stringing May along, who had earlier expressed her feelings for him. Tommy attempts to end his romantic relationship with May, though he still wants her to continue training his horse. Alfie gets Arthur out of prison. Derby Day then arrives.
Tommy collects the Peaky Blinders and gives them their mission at the races. Without firing a shot, they are to collect and burn the licences of Sabini's bookies and steal the bets. Tommy runs into Grace who informs him she's pregnant. Tommy tells her after the race, they will talk. Inspector Campbell's men from Northern Ireland, members of the Ulster Volunteers, kidnap Tommy and take him to an empty field, while Polly meets with Inspector Campbell and shoots him. Tommy is let go with a message from Churchill promising future contact.
Series 3 Two years later, in 1924, Tommy and Grace get married. Meanwhile, a refugee from Russia, named Anton Kaledin (Richard Brake), makes contact with the Peaky Blinders, offering the code "Constantine" as confirmation for the money-exchange meeting with Grand Duchess Tatiana Petrovna (Gaite Jansen). Tommy informs her that Kaledin provided the wrong code name, meaning the man must be killed. In the end, Arthur kills the impostor. Tommy inspects armoured vehicles for a business deal with Father John Hughes (Paddy Considine).
He meets with Mr. Romanov, who pays him for murdering Kaledin with a sapphire. Tommy later finds a card under his son Charles' pillow, which reads "Charles Shelby – R.I.P.". Grace wears the sapphire, which Tommy gave her, to the Shelby Charity Foundation dinner. Father Hughes informs Tommy that the Russians want to inspect the vehicles. Tatiana tells Tommy that the sapphire Grace is wearing was cursed. Tommy attempts convincing Grace to take off the necklace when a man shouts "For Angel!" and shoots Grace dead. Tommy travels to Wales with the sapphire necklace, where he confers with a Romani woman named Bethany Boswell, who he asks whether it is cursed.
He returns home with some sense of normality having left the necklace with Boswell. Arthur and John have procured a man called Vicente Changretta (Kenneth Colley), an Italian American Mafia member who Tommy threatens to torture, but Arthur shoots him in the head as an act of mercy. Tatiana sees Tommy to his car; he tells her that Father Hughes is betraying them to the Soviets and offers to kill him for free. Easter arrives and Tommy announces a plan to Arthur and John: they will have been hired to provide the Russians with weapons for a rebellion stolen from a train and will be paid in jewels, but believing the Russians will betray him, Tommy plans to break into their vault.
Polly goes to church while drunk and during confession she inadvertently reveals Tommy's plan to assassinate Father Hughes to the priest, who tells Father Hughes about it. Knowing he is the target, Father Hughes foils Tommy's attempt on his life, and watches him being seriously injured by his minders. Father Hughes then makes Tommy go tell the Russians that he was misinformed about Father Hughes betraying them. Three months later, Tommy has recovered and the planned massive heist involving the Russians is drawing near. Tommy enlists Alfie to appraise the Russian's jewels.
Charles is kidnapped. Father Hughes reveals to Tommy that he knows about his subterfuge. He demands the jewels as payment and for Tommy himself to blow up the train, which must kill six people, in exchange for the safe return of Charles. Tommy agrees unconditionally. After some investigation he discovers that Alfie divulged the plans to Father Hughes. During a confrontation, Polly's son Michael Gray (Finn Cole) kills Alfie's associate. Michael talks Tommy out of killing Alfie.
Tommy figures out where Charles is being held and sends Michael to retrieve him and kill Father Hughes. At the same time Arthur and John set off to carry out the train bombing in case Michael cannot rescue Charles in time. Even though Michael is successful, word does not reach the family in time, and the train is blown up. Tommy returns home to distribute the loot to his accomplices. At the end of the meeting he announces that the police are at the residence to arrest everyone. The rest of the Peaky Blinders and the family are taken away in handcuffs.
Series 4 As Arthur, John, Michael and Polly prepare to hang for their crimes, Tommy's reprieve comes just in time to save their lives. A year later, the family is scattered and estranged from one another. Each of the Shelbys receives a letter from Vicente's son Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody), a leader in New York's Italian American Mafia, marking him or her for death in retribution for the murder of Vicente and Changretta's brother Angel. Tommy and Ada attempt to convince the others to meet on Boxing Day, believing that they will be safer if they come back together. When Tommy discovers and kills a mafia agent among his staff, he realises the assassination attempts are due to take place on Christmas Day and gets word to the rest of the family.