Peaky Blinders' star reacts to shocking episode 1 reveal

The Shelby patriarch had hired Barney Thompson (Cosmo Jarvis), a former army comrade, to shoot the fascist politician dead, but the IRA had taken steps to ensure that his plot crashed and burned, for reasons we've delved into here.

Tommy, unable to reckon with his greatest failure to date, turned on his heel and strode off into the mist. It was there, alone, that he held a gun to his own head and roared as his pain and fury burned bright.

Despite Arthur's plea to "go inside and work it out and have a drink", Tommy had resigned himself to death and he squeezed the trigger with conviction.

It was no secret that Murphy would return for the show's final season, even in light of how we left him in the season 5 finale, but a number of viewers will undoubtedly be surprised to discover that Tommy did intend to kill himself. It wasn't just a wobble, which we've seen from him on multiple occasions previously, but a full-blooded attempt to bow out for good.

But Arthur (Paul Anderson), of all people, acted just in the nick of time to yank his brother back form the brink.

Chatting to RadioTimes.com about that reveal, Sophie Rundle, who plays Ada Thorne, said: "I think that's what Peaky has always done really well. It doesn't pussyfoot around anything and it really does go there. It is really f**king brutal. And I love that about it. It's really guttural and it's really intense and he meant to do it. And then he was saved by his brother, which is the constant theme of the show, being saved by your family, even when you don’t think that you would be.

"So I think it's what Peaky does really well. It goes really hard and it goes really intense. And it deals in big emotions and in big storylines. It doesn't shy away from that."

Read more:

• Peaky Blinders season 6 review: Helen McCrory tribute is a breathtaking triumph
• Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight on Helen McCrory tribute: "I think we've done it right"
• Peaky Blinders creator hopes fans are ”surprised” by Stephen Graham’s character
• Peaky Blinders' boss teases Alfie Solomons "chaos" in season 6
• Peaky Blinders' Sophie Rundle says season 6 ending “isn’t neat"

Peaky Blinders season 6 continues on Sunday 6th February at 9pm on BBC One. Check out our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features or find something else to watch with our TV Guide.

The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now – subscribe now to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times podcast with Jane Garvey.