10 Problems Nobody Wants To Admit About Peaky Blinders
7. Disposing Of Key Characters In Unsatisfying Ways
Being a supporting character on Peaky Blinders may seem like a sweet gig for any actor looking to feature in such a popular series, but the show has a history of not making the best use of it's supporting characters, and more than a few have departed under dubious circumstances.
Characters such as Freddie Thorne and Grace Shelby who were key players in the first series of the show have since found themselves cut out of the picture entirely.
Freddie met an off-screen death in the premiere of series 2 at the hands of the Spanish Flu, which felt odd, to say the least. There has never been any official word as to why the character was cut from the show, but considering he was a key character in the first series it seems bizarre that Freddie was removed so suddenly just as he had reconciled with Tommy and been accepted into the Shelby family after marrying Ada.
Speaking of marriages, Grace's entire absence in series 2 was put down to running off to New York and marrying a wealthy American, which given everything we had come to know and love about her character again, felt very odd. Her eventual marriage to Tommy which down-graded her character even further into the role of the all-suffering housewife, and her sudden murder, was a deeply unsatisfying ending to one of the shows original characters.
Even John Shelby's death was played more for shock value than anything else in the opening of series 4, which further proves the point that the show struggles to handle having so many interesting characters share the screen, and give them fitting exits.