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Annie Roberts

BBC Peaky Blinders: What happened at the end of series 5?

The Peaky Blinders will be making their long-awaited return to the BBC this February.

The Shelby's are back, it's 1934 and the anti-Semitic fascist movement is rising with the second world war looming ever closer.

Fans have been eager for the next instalment after the dramatic finale in series five, but filming on the final series of the popular period drama was delayed until January 2021 due to the pandemic.

Read more: Peaky Blinders series 6: When does it start, who's in the cast and how many episodes?

The fifth series aired three years ago now, so if you're trying to remember where we left the Peaky Blinders and what happened in the series five finale - we've put together a quick recap, here's all the details:

What happened at the end of series five of the Peaky Blinders?

In the finale of series five, viewers were left on an almighty cliffhanger when Tommy Shelby was seen walking into the garden of his stately home, surrounded by thick fog.

His dead wife Grace (Annabelle Wallis) - who was killed in series three - appeared and was standing in the fog, with a black horse behind her, almost taunting him with death saying: "The work's all done, Tommy. It's all done. We can walk away from all of this. It's so easy, it's so soft. Such a small change."

The camera then flips to see Tommy Shelby walking towards his dead wife pointing a gun at his head and screaming.

The final scene resembles the dream Alfie Solomons, played by Tom Hardy, recalled to Tommy in the final episode, saying he kept seeing him with a black horse.

Tommy had been experiencing hallucinations, suicidal thoughts and struggling with insomnia throughout series five and the need for 'sleep' was a constant theme.

But prior to that shocking ending, there was so much to unpack from the series five finale including how and why Tommy's plan to get take down Oswald Mosely went so disastrously wrong.

Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) and Diana Mitford (Amber Anderson) in series six of Peaky Blinders (BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Robert Viglasky)

Aberama Gold was killed when a gang set up Tommy's men standing off-stage during the Oswald Moseley speech - where Tommy had planned to have Mosely killed.

Earlier in the episode, Michael Gray played by Finn Cole and his wife Gina Gray played by Anya Taylor-Joy sat down with the family to discuss their desires to take over the family firm, Shelby Company Ltd.

When their future plans for the business weren't accepted, Gina said that it was time to play their second option - which left many fans wondering what they had in store.

Polly Grey played by Helen McCrory had handed in her notice of resignation claiming she wanted no further part in the enterprise and she still hasn't been told about Aberama's death.

Speaking ahead of series six airing on Sunday, February 27, Cillian Murphy, who has played Tommy for almost a decade now, said: "When we left Tommy at the end of five it felt like he had finally lost control; that he for once in his life wasn't ahead of everybody else - because he's always ahead, and it felt at this point as though he wasn’t.

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby ((C) Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd. - Photographer: Robert Viglasky)

"The culmination of all these suicidal thoughts, these hallucinations he was having and everything... that all just came together in that field as he stood there. The thing you say about the ideology: there's a continuation of that story in five, the ideology being fascism. That storyline is very much unfinished and that will continue in a very interesting way."

What to expect from Peaky Blinders series six

Details on what could happen in series six have been kept tightly under wraps but creator and writer, Steven Knight revealed when filming for series six started that the family will be in "extreme jeopardy and the stakes have never been higher".

Actor Cillian Murphy has teased that viewers can expect a "satisfying" opening to the sixth series.

"An awful lot will be revealed in the very first ten minutes of episode one of series six," the 45-year-old said: "A lot of what happens in that first ten minutes becomes the engine for the rest of the story and for the rest of the series.

Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) in the sixth and final series (BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Robert Viglasky)

"I think it'll be a very, very satisfying opening ten minutes for audience members. Steve Knight is amazing at writing these cliffhangers where you think, ‘How can the character possibly continue?’ Or ‘How can he [Steven Knight] write himself out of this one?’ And he always does, in a very unexpected way. He's done it again with this."

Peaky Blinders will be back on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday, February 27 from 9pm.

If you want to catch up on series one to five ahead of series six's releases, all episodes are available on the BBC iPlayer.

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