Tommy and others are seen smoking Opium throughout the series as a coping mechanism. over 5000 cigarettes were smoked on the show. Characters drink frequently on-screen, become drunk, and act violent and clumsy. One character has an opium habit, and a 10-year-old child smokes a cigarette on-screen.
Thomas Shelby and Danny Whizz-Bang's method for easing stress and symptoms involves the smoking of brown opium with a clay pipe. In the first episode, Thomas is seen lighting the opium and putting it to flame, then drawing from it.
While cocaine use is common among the characters, Tommy smokes brown opium at night in series one and two to minimize the stress and symptoms of his PTSD. Although his father Arthur Shelby (Paul Anderson) doesn't have any haunting dreams from the war, he finds himself triggered when he's provoked during a fight.
Smoking is a big part of most scenes, and all of the cigarettes were real. "I asked the prop guys to count how many we use during a series and it's 3,000," Murphy told BirminghamLive.
Cillian Murphy, who plays Tommy, was asked about this very topic during an interview with BBC Radio One. The actor explained: "That comes from the fact that the cigarettes, we cut the filter off or do we leave the filter on I cannot recall, but anyway if you don't rub them across your lips initially, they will stick.
Thankfully, the actor himself has come out and revealed the exact reason behind this strangely seductive smoking habit. Murphy told to BBC that it's all to do with the filters, and getting sticky… “That comes from the fact that the cigarettes, we cut the filter off, or do we leave them on?
His lungs are clear of tuberculosis, but he has developed a tuberculoma. It's rapidly expanding and inoperable, says his doctor, who estimates that Tommy only has between a year and 18 months to live.
If you've ever noticed that Shelby never eats on the show, that's because it was an accidental choice that later turned into an intentional decision. Once fans noticed this quirk, Murphy and Knight decided to turn it into a “Tommy thing,” which added to the character's obsessive industriousness.
The whiskey that is drunk in Peaky Blinders is the Gallglennie Whiskey. However, this whiskey does not really exist but it was invented by the makers of the series. By the way, the actors do not drink real whiskey during the filming. Instead of whiskey they use tea.
Some herbal smokes may produce notable metabolic problems that increase the risk of several chronic metabolic diseases. In general, burning substances from plants can have a variety of negative effects on the body attributed to toxic chemicals such as carbon monoxide, polyaromatics, nicotine, and N-nitrosamines.
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.
After Thomas is allowed to return home, he soon dumps the morphine he's been prescribed down the sink, because it gives him bizarre dreams about his elderly housekeeper.
Contrary to popular opinion (see below), the name of the gang may have actually originated with style: Peaky for their peaked caps and Blinder as Birmingham slang for a striking gentleman.
In a previous interview, Helen McCrory (who plays Aunt Polly in the film) revealed that they actually use herbal cigarettes. "They use herbal tobacco which has no nicotine and tastes horrible," the actress revealed to the Mirror. "They're the same type they smoke in theatre productions."
The Shelby brothers have different relationships with alcohol; Arthur has always been more susceptible to addiction than Tommy. In season 6, Arthur struggles with substance abuse while Tommy trades whiskey for water – at least for the first few episodes.
TOMMY SHELBY. As any true fan knows, Tommy Shelby prefers Irish whiskey over all. And if you ordered a pour of Irish at the Garrison when the Shelbys ruled Birmingham, you'd be drinking a Bushmills.
Although Tommy's choice to drink water is solely based on him giving up alcohol, the other men see it as a betrayal of their values and a way of him laughing in their faces.
While England didn't have Prohibition at the same time as America, the Shelby Company Limited began illegally manufacturing alcohol without a license.
Alas, the tests did reveal a growth in his brain stem that the doctor explains is called Tuberculoma. It is linked to tuberculosis but it is not infectious: this sure sounds like good news! While Tommy won't be passing this onto his loved ones, the precarious positioning of this benign tumour means it is inoperable.
At the Garrison, Arthur and Tommy warn Finn not to get involved with guns and Tommy tells Arthur that he doesn't sleep because he dreams that someone wants his crown and that it might be Michael.
Peaky Blinders fans were left furious after Tommy Shelby had steamy sex with. The barnstorming episode featured a bomb, torture and dramatic plot twists, but it was Tommy (Cillian Murphy's) romp with Nazi sympathiser Diana (Amber Anderson) that had viewers up in arms.
He had tuberculoma in his brain stem, a growth caused by the same bacteria as the lung disease, doubtless picked up from daughter Ruby (Orla McDonagh). It wasn't infectious but it was inoperable. The symptoms (seizures, dissociation, hallucinations, sharp cheekbones – I may have added the last one) chimed with Tommy's.
However, he soon fell ill himself, staggering out of the doctor's office and throwing up. He hid his sudden sickness from Lizzie, simply saying that he was tired after barely sleeping. Tommy wasn't able to keep up the pretence for long though, as that evening he suffered from a seizure.
The untimely death of Helen McCrory, who played Polly, forced Peaky Blinders to reshape itself. “When we found out that she was ill, especially during COVID, Steve [Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders] had to choose a direction to make the plot make sense,” Peaky executive producer Caryn Mandabach tells Tudum.