10 Best British TV Characters Of The Decade

For the past 20 years or so, prestige telly has been a place for jobbing actors to reinvent themselves as major stars. James Gandolfini went from thug for hire to Tony Soprano; Andrew Lincoln from That Sap Out Of Love, Actually to the main man in The Walking Dead. And Cillian Murphy went from the shifty fella in Chris Nolan movies to a bonafide sex symbol.

Of course, that does a disservice to the always-excellent work of Murphy, but his turn as gang leader turned MP Tommy Shelby has been nothing short of a revelation. The man oozes charisma as a matter of course, but only now has he had the room to truly build a character - and what a character Shelby is. Everything about him, from his look to his swagger to his slightly odd accent, is iconic (he passes the Ubiquitous Hallowe’en Costume test with flying colours).

It can be argued that Tommy Shelby is merely an addition to the pantheon of white male antiheroes on prestige dramas (see: all prestige dramas), but the arc he goes on makes him unique. Peaky Blinders’ appeal lies heavily in its wild storylines, forever in motion, but Tommy is the anchor to all of this. It’s his journey we’re watching, and he’s magnetic enough to pull us along wherever the show goes.