He pursues and seduces her until things begin to develop between them. Finally, Polly decides to come to him at night and sleeps with him. Polly trusts him in the end and starts sharing a secret about the murder of Chief Inspector Chester Campbell.
Chester Campbell
Yet the worst act he has ever committed is forcing Polly to sleep with him to keep her son from spending the rest of his life behind bars.
However, he pursues and seduces her until things have begun to develop between them. Finally, Polly decides to come for him at night and sleeps with him. Does Thomas know Grace betrayed him? Polly and Thomas realize that Grace betrayed them.
But in exchange for signing Michael's release form, Polly had to have sex with Campbell which she agreed to in disgust to help her son.
Handsome, charming and well educated, Ruben is a beguiling portrait painter who is immediately attracted to Polly. The pair are worlds apart in terms of their backgrounds, but there's a spark that unites them. But is Polly too trusting with this charismatic artist about whom she knows so little?
She tells him that she wants a dull life and him, then they embrace and kiss. Later, Polly is imprisoned for the murder of Campbell and nearly executed but later on released. Nearly 2 years later, Polly is alone without Ruben Oliver. She says to Ada Shelby that she's lost a man.
Broken down by this, she slashes the painting, but after that point the character goes on a journey. She learns that Ruben did not betray them, is brought low by the events of season 4, but by her final appearance in Peaky Blinders season 5, Polly Gray is fully self-confident again.
Polly is a disfigured patient who was hospitalized for schizophrenia and depression.
Realizing that Thomas won't get Michael out of prison soon enough, Polly takes the matter into her own hands. Campbell offers to release Michael the next morning but only in return for a sexual favor. Polly agrees to this deal. The next day, Michael tells her they told him what she did to get him out of jail.
In the end, the decision was made to kill off the character and this was done at the season's premiere. Aunt Polly was collateral damage from Tommy Shelby's attempted assassination of Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) which was thwarted by the IRA.
Elizabeth Pollyanna "Polly" Gray (née Shelby) is the mother of Michael and Anna Gray, aunt of Arthur, Thomas, John, Ada and Finn Shelby, as well as being the matriarch of the Shelby Family.
Born Elizabeth Shelby, Polly was aunt to Peaky Blinders gang leader Tommy Shelby, his brothers Arthur, John and Finn, and their sister Ada Thorne. She kept the gang going while Tommy and Arthur were fighting in World War I and was a key member of their shell corporation, Shelby Company Limited.
Lizzie and Thomas continue to grow closer following Grace's death. Thomas takes Lizzie to the canal, revealing that he used to wait there for Greta prior to France, and that he hasn't been back there since, but wanted to go back with Lizzie. With this, he kisses her, and the two have sex by the canal.
Why does Polly betray Thomas? She wanted to emigrate to Australia with her son Michael, but he refused until the threat was over. She made it look as though she was betraying Tommy to Luca in exchange for protection for Michael. Really, Polly was in cahoots with Tommy and let him know when Luca planned to ambush him.
She tells him that she wants a dull life and him, then they embrace and kiss.
While "Peaky Blinders" is mainly a show about violent men doing violent things, the women of the series are no slouches in that department, either. Chief among the ladies is Polly Gray (Helen McCrory), aunt to Tommy and his siblings and the official treasurer of the Peaky Blinders' bookie business.
Michael Gray is the son of Polly Gray and the cousin of the Shelby siblings. He was taken away from Polly at a young age and was raised by his adoptive mother. After Thomas learns about Polly's wish to find her children again, he pays Michael's foster family a visit and invites the boy to see his biological mother.
She knows what Grace has done, and she will never, ever forgive her — even if Tommy eventually does. “He might forgive you,” she says in a monologue that deploys McCrory's trademark quiet fierceness. “He might take you in. You can never tell with men.
But without McCrory, the show acted swiftly in deciding Polly's fate. In the opening of Peaky Blinders' sixth season, it's revealed that Polly has been killed by the very same people who ruined Tommy's assassination plan against Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) in the season 5 finale.
The actress, who played Polly on the show, passed away last year at the age of 52.
From the beginning, Tommy has struggled with what we now understand as post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from his time in World War I. In Season 6, he suffers from seizures, with his body reflecting the inner turmoil wrought from fighting at home and abroad.
Peaky Blinders revolves around World War One veterans who suffer from PTSD. The show portrays the symptoms of PTSD in ways that are both obvious and not so obvious. Real-life veterans rarely got the help they needed, partially because of social stigmas.
There's a theory on the Internet that Johnny Dogs, resentful of Aberama Gold's connection to the Shelbys, is the ultimate traitor. After all, Aberama had accused him of treason before and ended up being murdered in the attempted coup.
Polly is shown only as a portrait in the ensuing funeral pyre, as her son Michael Gray (Finn Cole) lights her carriage aflame in tribute to their Romany gypsy heritage. The camera shows each grief-stricken family member's face, focusing on Michael, who blames his father figure Tommy.
The character of Polly was killed off-screens with the IRA claiming responsibility for her death, along with the murders of Aberama Gold (Aidan Gillen) and Barney Thompson (Cosmo Jarvis).