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Peaky Blinders<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Fans praised the first episode of season 6 for its \u201cbeautiful\u201d and \u201cpoignant\u201d 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.<\/p>\n Season 6\u2019s debut episode, titled Black Day, began with Tommy Shelby in the same field we left him in in season 5\u2019s 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\u2019s IRA member Captain Swing. (Spoilers follow).<\/p> 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\u2019s Aunt Polly.<\/p>\n Captain Swing also tells him that Polly\u2019s untimely death is \u201chis own responsibility because he consistently failed to understand his own limitations\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Polly\u2019s son, Michael Gray (Finn Cole), vows to get vengeance on Tommy, saying: \u201cNo matter what it takes, no matter how many lies I have to tell.\u201d Polly\u2019s eyes are then visible through the smoke.<\/p>\n Fans described the \u201cbrilliant\u201d tribute to McCrory as \u201cvery poignant\u201d and \u201cheart-wrenching\u201d, with viewers commenting on how \u201cheartbroken\u201d the cast looked in the commemorative scene.<\/p>\n #PeakyBlinders<\/a> 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.<\/p>\u2014 Ben (@GiallorossiBlue) February 27, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>