Tommy Shelby doesn't exist. He never did.
It's a tough pill for some fans to swallow, especially given how lived-in Cillian Murphy makes that role feel. You see him on screen—shrouded in cigarette smoke, cheekbones sharp enough to cut glass—and you just assume there has to be a real-life blueprint for a man that terrifyingly capable. But the truth is, the Thomas Shelby TV show (known to most as Peaky Blinders) is a gorgeous, hyper-stylized fabrication.
The real Peaky Blinders? They were much smaller potatoes.
If you went back to Birmingham in the 1890s looking for a criminal mastermind who discussed foreign policy with Winston Churchill, you’d be disappointed. Instead, you would find teenage pickpockets and street brawlers. They didn't run the country. They barely ran a few blocks of Small Heath.
The Real Men Behind the Flat Caps
So, where did Tommy come from? Steven Knight, the show’s creator, didn't just pull him out of thin air. He based the character on stories his father told him. These were tall tales of "the peaky blinders"—men who were impossibly well-dressed in an era of absolute squalor.
There was a man named Thomas Gilbert (also known as Kevin Mooney). He’s widely considered the most powerful member of the actual gang. Unlike the show, which starts after WWI, the real gang's peak was actually before the war. By 1918, they were already fading, replaced by more organized outfits like the Birmingham Boys, led by Billy Kimber.
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Yes, Billy Kimber was a real guy. But in real life, Tommy Shelby didn't shoot him in the head. Kimber died in 1942 in a nursing home. Boring, right?
- Real Gang: Mostly active in the 1890s.
- Show Gang: Dominant in the 1920s and 30s.
- The Razors: Historians like Carl Chinn argue the "razors in the caps" thing is mostly a myth. Disposable razors were a luxury item back then. Using them to blind people? Cool for TV, but probably didn't happen.
Why Thomas Shelby Still Matters in 2026
It’s been years since the series finale "Lock and Key" aired in 2022, yet the obsession hasn't cooled off. Honestly, it’s probably bigger now. You’ve seen the "Sigma" edits on TikTok and the "Old Money" style guides. Tommy became a shorthand for a specific kind of broken, stoic masculinity.
But if you actually watch the Thomas Shelby TV show, you realize he isn't a hero. He’s a walking ghost.
The show is really a study of PTSD. Tommy spent the war as a "tunneler," literally digging under the feet of the enemy in France. He never really left those tunnels. Every move he makes—the gambling, the politics, the expansion—is just a way to keep the noise in his head quiet. He's a man who died in 1914 and forgot to fall over.
The Movie is Finally Coming
Let's talk about the big news. For a while, we were all wondering if the story was just going to end with Tommy riding off on that white horse. But the rumors are dead; the facts are here.
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Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is hitting select theaters on March 6, 2026. If you're waiting for the stream, it lands on Netflix on March 20.
Steven Knight has confirmed the film is set during World War II. Think about that for a second. Tommy started in the aftermath of one war and now he’s crashing into the next. The synopsis says he's coming out of a self-imposed exile to deal with "unfinished business" in a bombed-out Birmingham. Cillian Murphy is back, obviously. But the cast is getting wild: Rebecca Ferguson and Barry Keoghan are joining the fray.
It feels like a massive pivot. The show was always intimate, even when it got big. Now, it’s a cinematic event.
Decoding the Shelby Strategy
What makes people keep coming back to this character? It’s not just the haircuts. It’s the way he thinks. Tommy’s "strategy" is basically a masterclass in high-stakes negotiation. He never enters a room without knowing exactly what the other person wants.
He uses silence as a weapon. He waits. Most people talk because they’re nervous; Tommy waits until the silence makes you nervous.
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Then there’s the family dynamic. The Shelbys are a mess. Arthur is the rage, John was the heart, and Ada is the conscience. Tommy is the brain that keeps them all from being hanged. It’s a heavy burden. You can see it in his eyes during the later seasons—that look of someone who has won everything but lost everyone.
The Legend vs. The Reality
We have to acknowledge the "E-E-A-T" factor here: the show is historical fiction, not a documentary. While characters like Oswald Mosley (the fascist leader) and Jessie Eden (the real-life union activist) were very real, their interactions with the Shelbys are totally made up.
Jessie Eden, for instance, was a formidable woman who led thousands of factory workers in strikes. In the show, she’s sort of reduced to a brief romantic interest for Tommy. Real historians haven't always been happy about that. It’s a reminder that while the Thomas Shelby TV show is great entertainment, it’s a "secret history" that takes massive liberties with the truth.
What to do if you're a fan
Don't just rewatch the series for the fifth time. If you want to dive deeper into the actual world that inspired the show, there are better ways to spend your time.
- Read Carl Chinn's "Peaky Blinders: The Real Story." He’s the preeminent historian on the subject and his great-grandfather was actually a Peaky Blinder. He cuts through the glamour to show the gritty, often sad reality of these gangs.
- Visit the Black Country Living Museum. This is where a lot of the show was filmed. You can actually walk the streets that stood in for the Shelby scrapyard and the canals.
- Watch Cillian Murphy’s other work. If you want to see the range that led to Tommy, watch The Wind That Shakes the Barley. It’s another historical piece, but much more raw and less "cool."
The Shelby era isn't over. With the movie coming in March and spin-offs (including a Boston-set series) in development, the flat cap is here to stay. Just remember that the man under the hat is a ghost of a history that never quite happened.
Keep an eye on the Netflix "New Releases" tab as we hit late February 2026. That’s when the marketing for The Immortal Man is going to go into overdrive. You’ll want to have your rewatch finished by then because the movie is reportedly going to wrap up the "Tommy" saga for good, even if the Peaky world continues without him.