Peaky Blinders Season 6 Proves Thomas Shelby Is the Most Underrated Leading Man on TV
Photo Courtesy of Netflix
Peaky Blinders is a cultural phenomenon. There’s no better way to put it. The BBC/Netflix series is a global hit and now, nearly nine years since first airing, the show is over. And while this is not the end of the Shelby family’s story (the grand finale will be a movie that begins filming next year) it is the end of Peaky Blinders, the show, as we know it. And with that, we say goodbye to TV’s most underrated leading man: Thomas Shelby himself.
It’s strange to say Tommy Shelby is underrated. Peaky Blinders often balances on the edge of being an ensemble show, but in the end it always centers on Cillian Murphy’s commanding performance. No major plot point happens without at least some of his involvement. But six seasons later, I think we have taken Murphy’s performance for granted.
I was shocked to discover Cillian Murphy never received any serious award nominations or buzz for his role. Peaky Blinders looks incredible. Its soundtrack is unlike any other show. It’s captivating, and no wonder it became Netflix’s biggest global hit. But even though it’s defined by its style, the show comes alive in its performances. Cillian Murphy is the engine that fuels Peaky Blinders. It’s time he gets proper praise for how he’s built the role he has also mastered over the course of nine years.
The character of Thomas Shelby is the kind of role actors dream of landing. He is given some of the best material an actor can hope to exhibit: extreme displays of rage and sorrow, long moments of reflection, slow motion shots that show just how cool this guy is. There’s always another layer, always something he can’t say or show. It’s a performance that allows for both subtlety and exaggeration.
But the “coolness” of Thomas Shelby, and the stylish coolness of the show itself, eclipses the work Cillian Murphy has been putting in from day one. The character has been overtaken by the image of a suave sexy man with a cigarette in one hand and a gun in the other (he also pulls off the haircut best). He’s a character so easy to watch that the actor melts away. Thomas Shelby has become an icon, but with that he loses the complexity of the skill Murphy has put into building that character into something more.
Season 6 puts an even bigger spotlight on Murphy’s performance. Creator Steven Knight has always favored long dialogue scenes, but they come alive in this final season. Maybe it’s because so much of the cast is gone now, but this season really allows Shelby to take his time. The show is barreling toward its conclusion, but Thomas is never in any rush. His command over every scene is palpable and comes from that rare relationship between actor and role where the two become perfectly in sync.
The last season exposes everything Knight has been building with the character of Thomas Shelby. The gangster life, the sex and the money—it’s all pathetic in the end. When death keeps coming, when fascism threatens to topple democracy as we know it, all the gains that have been made over the course of 14 years fall away. Thomas Shelby has fought his way, with guns and blood, to the table where people change the world. But all he can do is sit there and play their games.