Peaky Blinders made its bittersweet return to BBC One last night, paying tribute to the late Helen McCrory, who played indomitable matriarch Aunt Polly Gray in the period gangster drama.
Fans praised the first episode of season 6 for its “beautiful” and “poignant” dedication to the legendary actress, who died of cancer in April 2021. McCrory is survived by her husband, actor Damian Lewis, and their two children.
Season 6’s debut episode, titled Black Day, began with Tommy Shelby in the same field we left him in in season 5’s finale, still holding a gun to his own head. After he pulls the trigger, he discovers his gun is devoid of bullets and, when he arrives home, he receives a phone call from Charlene McKenna’s IRA member Captain Swing. (Spoilers follow).
She reveals that she is responsible for the foiled assassination of fascist politician Oswald Mosley, and that her people would be delivering to Tommy the bodies of those who lost their lives in the fracas. Although we never see inside the body bags, when Tommy opens the third one, he is so distraught that viewers know instinctively that the body inside is that of McCrory’s Aunt Polly.
Captain Swing also tells him that Polly’s untimely death is “his own responsibility because he consistently failed to understand his own limitations”.
The Shelby clan hold a memorial for Polly, and to respect her Romani heritage, they set fire to a carriage with her photographs and portraits inside, with the show airing a three-minute silence as it burns.
The camera then focuses on the faces of each individual member of the family, who are overcome with emotion, with the actors no doubt showing genuine grief over the loss of their beloved co-star.
Polly’s son, Michael Gray (Finn Cole), vows to get vengeance on Tommy, saying: “No matter what it takes, no matter how many lies I have to tell.” Polly’s eyes are then visible through the smoke.
Fans described the “brilliant” tribute to McCrory as “very poignant” and “heart-wrenching”, with viewers commenting on how “heartbroken” the cast looked in the commemorative scene.
#PeakyBlinders was brilliant, like usual. Don’t mess with Tommy Shelby. The tributes to Helen McCrory with her portrait being cremated at the start and the credit tribute at the end with bird sounds playing were very poignant.
— Ben (@GiallorossiBlue) February 27, 2022
“Sobbing at the opening scene of #PeakyBlinders,” another fan added.
Sobbing at the opening scene of #PeakyBlinders That must’ve been so hard for the cast to film. They look heartbroken ???? Helen McCrory was truly outstanding.
— Ali Wright ???? (@WrightOnAir) February 27, 2022
“Wow. A wonderful and heart-wrenching tribute to the late, great Helen McCrory in the opener to the new series of Peaky Blinders,” another fan Tweeted.
“What a truly magnificent way to say goodbye to the fabulous Helen McCrory,” another added.
What a truly magnificent way to say goodbye to the fabulous
— Carl Porter (@portercarl1) February 27, 2022
Helen McCrory aka Polly Gray From the Portrait at the beginning to silence and birds at the end ????????????
#PeakyBlinders pic.twitter.com/7dhTxj7LO1
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight recently spoke to RadioTimes.com about how he approached the tribute to McCrory, explaining: “The loss of the human being, the loss of Helen is the tragedy. That’s the thing. The loss of the character is infinitesimal compared to that. However, it’s our job to deal with that.
“To begin with, Polly was in the series and then incrementally bit by bit, it became apparent that there was less and less she would be able to do. And so in the end, we’d reached a point where we knew that she couldn’t be in it at all.
“And then you have to first of all deal with the consequences in terms of the story, taking a moment to deal with the loss of the character, but then knowing that that has a reflection in the real world with the loss of the person. So it was trying to balance all of that, and I think we’ve done it right.”
Peaky Blinders is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and Netflix. Read our guide to the best series on Netflix, check out our Drama hub for more news, interviews and features or find something to watch with our TV Guide.
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