With the Peaky Blinders film just days away from releasing in cinemas, anticipation is at an all-time high for the latest Tommy Shelby installment from Steven Knight.
Four years after Cillian Murphy last reprised his role as Shelby, the new film, which stars Barry Keoghan as his son Duke, will be available to watch on Netflix on March 20.
Also joining the star-studded cast is Sophie Rundle as Ada, Stephen Graham as Hayden Stagg alongside newcomers Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth.
The Immortal Man will close this chapter of the Peaky Blinders story and set us up for a highly-aniticipated sequel series, but it is not yet known whether it will be with or without our resident gypsy gangster.
Set in World War Two, 1940s Birmingham, Tommy returns after years away having departed the city at the very end of Peaky Blinders season six, leaving behind the gang he had built.
However, to find out which episodes are an essential rewatch before the film comes out, thankfully the new James Bond screenwriter has you covered.
The Pilot – Episode 1.1
The latest trailer of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man may well show Keoghan’s Duke as the leader of the Peaky Blinders, with Ada telling Tommy that he’s running the gang ‘like it’s 1919’.
But the show’s pilot episode really ‘lays out what this whole series is about’, according to Knight.
‘It introduces Tommy Shelby in a way that I think makes it pretty unequivocal about who this person is. We see him riding on a horse in an industrial landscape, no words, just his look,’ he told LadBible.
Are you similarly concerned?
‘It really says so much about what Peaky is going to be about and the whole episode is essential to know exactly what this family is and what they do and why they’re so fearsome.’
So to get a real sense of what is at the roots of Peaky Blinders, episode one is where to begin ahead of the new film airing.
Season Two finale – Episode 2.6
If you’re like us and your memory of Peaky Blinders has become hazy ove the years, season two’s finale is critical for the film, according to Knight.
The dramatic conclusion sees Tommy get forced to assassinate a high-level military official by Campbell, who is planning to have Tommy killed even if he succeeds.
But for Knight, the episode features one of his ‘favourite sequences of the series’.
The show’s creator also claimed that it reveals a key aspect behind the character of Tommy, as he added: ‘What that gives us is: Here is a man who is not sure if he wants to live or die… [in this moment] we can see that he actually chooses life.’
Lock and Key – Episode 6.6
Last on your Peaky Blinders watch list is perhaps the most obvious recommendation – the final TV episode of Peaky Blinders.
The season six finale centres on the death of Aunt Polly at the hands of the IRA as well as Tommy discovering that he has a brain tumour.
However, after discovering that the information was false from a doctor who was working with Oswald Mosley, the main character shows a different side to himself.
Discussing this moment, Steven told the publication: ‘The horse he rides away on is a white horse. The horse he arrived on at the beginning of the series was a black horse.
‘I think there is a contrast between the two moments and maybe we believe that Tommy is cured, that he’s better, that he’s riding away to have a simpler life.’
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man releases in cinemas 6 March and on Netflix 20 March.
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