Sadly, the sixth and final season starts with the unexpected death of the family matriarch, Polly Gray. The Season 6 premiere reveals that Aunt Polly was killed off-screen by the Irish Republican Army during the attempted assassination of Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin) in the Season 5 finale.
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.
Elizabeth Pollyanna "Polly" Gray (née Shelby) was 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.
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.
Arthur tries to confront his father before he leaves for good, but becomes intimidated by the man's strength and anger, knowing that he wouldn't win in a fight against him. The events cause Arthur to re-evaluate himself and as a result, he attempts suicide by hanging himself.
Despite the plan being a ruse, Tommy is upset with Michael for not warning him about it, since as far as he knew, he was letting Tommy die. Michael says that he did it to protect his mother.
This information became useful in the finale of that season when Tommy went to kill Alfie because of the bad blood between them. Alfie seemingly accepted his fate, stating that "there's an honorable reason now to pull that trigger" and he even forced Tommy to shoot him in self-defense when Tommy showed hesitation.
Her murder, which happened off-screen, was punishment for his machinations and meant to bring him to heel. Polly is given a Gypsy funeral, her caravan being set on fire with her body inside, and Michael swears to avenge her, blaming Tommy for her death.
Shelby is the mother of Thomas, Arthur Jr., John, Ada and Finn Shelby, and sister of Polly. Her husband was Arthur Snr.
Luckily for Polly, she was finally diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) — a genetic disease that attacks nerve tissue and interrupts signals from the brain to the body. If left untreated, CIDP can cause total paralysis, leaving its victims in a physically “frozen” state.
Tommy Shelby and his kin are Irish-Romani (sometimes spelled Romany) Gypsies, a unique cultural and ethnic group present in Britain since the 1500s. The award-winning Peaky Blinders is directed by Steven Knight and has run for 6 seasons, the most recent hitting U.S. Netflix in June 2022.
Polly's Past, Revealed (Season 1, Episode 6)
Gazing down at Ada's newborn son Karl in his cradle, Polly tells her niece how her own children were taken by the police when they were 2 and 5 years old after a neighbor snitched on her for illegal dealings.
Tommy then shoots Michael through the eye, killing him instantly and fulfilling Polly's prophecy that there will be a war between the cousins and one of them will die.
Goodbye Lizzie
Despite Tommy's hopes Lizzie would understand his actions because he just "had to go" to Canada, Lizzie walked away from the life she shared with Tommy and it came as no surprise that her stepson Charlie wanted to go with her.
Negative reactions from fans regarding Peaky Blinders season 6 is that it's slow, purely because there isn't yet all-out warfare between Tommy and a big enemy. Fans crave the violence and gore that was so prevalent in early seasons, but that was the doing of a younger Tommy, not the one audiences know now.
John Shelby (Joe Cole) was killed in the vendetta, earning the family a Romany curse from his widow Esme. Polly's son Michael betrayed Tommy (or thought he had) and was sent away to America.
Polly finally does give in to the mutual attraction, and they have sex, during which he makes the mistake of placing his hand around her neck and unwittingly causes her to have flashbacks to the time Campbell raped her, understandably killing the moment somewhat.
She was eventually sent to Australia where she supposedly died of "Spring Fever," a mosquito-borne illness with symptoms akin to influenza and arthritis. Her body's buried there. Thomas tells Polly that Anna was never able to settle and tried multiple times to return to England. Polly learns Anna has died.
Polly destroyed it because she said that it was wrong and that the woman in the painting was “too sure of herself” and that she wasn't that woman. Because of this, bringing it back as a tribute might seem like it goes against Polly's wishes.
Jason ultimately caved to his parent's wishes, ending things with Polly, though the break-up was short-lived as Polly came to learn she was pregnant.
So her absence would be felt no matter what decision was made, but ultimately, Knight shared, “the idea that Polly's alive but she's gone to America or something wasn't right.” Instead, the creator decided that killing her off was the more honorable thing to do and the death is revealed early on in the new season.
He is informed by Doctor Holford (Aneurin Barnard) that he has tuberculoma and has at best, a year and a half to live. He is certain now that his death is imminent.
Why Grace Shelby Dies In Peaky Blinders. While Grace dies in Peaky Blinders in a massively shocking way, it was the only way for the show to continue. Speaking to fans, creator Steven Knight stated that the creative reasoning behind Grace's death was simply that Tommy wasn't supposed to be happy (via Reddit).
However, it turns out that Alfie had an ulterior motive with his betrayal. He had just found out that he had cancer, and he knew Tommy would kill him before the cancer did.