TV Family Trees
← All Shows

Peaky Blinders · A Viewer's Companion

Four brothers, one sister, and the aunt who really runs things — the Shelbys, by order of the Peaky Blinders.

The show hands you five Shelby siblings in one smoky pub scene, then keeps adding wives, cousins, coppers and fascists without ever pausing for introductions. This chart sorts them: amber borders are Shelby blood, iron-grey borders married in, and the red-ringed faces at the bottom are the people trying to kill them. And to settle the big one straight away — Polly is their aunt, not their mother.

Shelby blood married into the family enemies & rivals (bottom strip) marriage parent → child † dead — by the end of Season 6
brother & sister — Polly is the siblings’ AUNT the siblings’ mother died before the show begins the five Shelby siblings m. m. m. m. m. m. 2nd — after Grace † Polly’s son — the siblings’ first cousin Arthur Sr. † the deadbeat father Tommy Flanagan abandoned them — twice Polly Gray † matriarch · their aunt Helen McCrory the company’s true head Arthur eldest brother · the fist Paul Anderson rage, guilt, cocaine, God Linda Arthur’s Quaker wife Kate Phillips tries to save his soul Thomas second son · the boss Cillian Murphy OBE, MP — still a gangster Grace † barmaid, spy, 1st wife Annabelle Wallis shot at the party (S3) Lizzie secretary, then 2nd wife Natasha O’Keeffe walks out on him in S6 John † third brother · hothead Joe Cole † Changretta vendetta (S4) Esme John’s wife · a Lee Aimee-Ffion Edwards a truce sealed by wedding Ada the only sister Sophie Rundle communist to company head Freddie † Ada’s communist husband Iddo Goldberg † of pestilence (S2) Finn the kid brother Harry Kirton cast out of the family (S6) Charles Tommy & Grace’s son Billy Jenkins raised amid the empire Ruby † Tommy & Lizzie’s daughter Orla McDonagh † of consumption, age 7 (S6) Karl Ada & Freddie’s son a child, then a teen named after Karl Marx Michael † Polly’s son · the cousin Finn Cole shot by Tommy (S6) Gina Michael’s American wife Anya Taylor-Joy Boston money, big schemes
Hover over any portrait to enlarge it. How to read it: gold lines are marriages, iron-grey lines run from a marriage (or a parent) down to the children. Tommy appears connected to two women because he married twice — Grace, then Lizzie. The long grey line down the right side is the one that confuses everyone: it runs from Polly, at the top with her brother Arthur Sr., down to her son Michael — which makes Michael the siblings’ first cousin, not a sixth brother. Covers all six seasons, 1919–1934.

Why the family matters: the whole show lives inside it

Every betrayal, expansion, and funeral in the series traces back to a handful of facts on this chart.

The big one

Polly is their aunt — and Michael is their cousin

Polly Gray was born Elizabeth Shelby — she is Arthur Sr.’s sister, not the siblings’ mother (their mother died before the show). She ran the business while the boys were in France, and never quite handed it back. Her son Michael, taken from her as a baby and returned in Season 2, is the siblings’ first cousin — the single most-misread relationship in the show.

The Grace arc

The barmaid was a spy, then a wife, then a ghost

Grace walks into The Garrison in episode one as a barmaid — she is actually an undercover agent reporting to Inspector Campbell. She falls for Tommy anyway, marries him in Season 3, and is shot dead at a party within episodes. Tommy spends the rest of the series haunted by her; Lizzie, his secretary and second wife, spends it competing with a ghost.

The ledger

Who runs what by Season 6

Tommy is an MP, distillery owner, and still the boss. Arthur is his broken enforcer, wobbling between whisky and God. Ada — the one-time communist — is acting head of Shelby Company Ltd. Michael plots from Boston with Gina’s family. Finn is expelled from the family for a betrayal. Polly, John, and Ruby are in the ground.

The look-alikes

Michael vs. Finn — the two young men

Viewers mix them up for whole seasons. Michael Gray is Polly’s polished, office-raised son — ambitious, cold, and eventually Tommy’s would-be usurper. Finn Shelby is the actual youngest brother — around from episode one, forever on the edge of the action, never trusted with real power.

The grey borders

Married in doesn’t mean minor

The spouses drive half the plot: Grace the spy, Freddie the communist agitator Tommy once fought beside, Esme the Lee girl whose wedding ended a clan war, Linda the Quaker who nearly pulls Arthur out, and Gina, whose American family turns out to be worse news than any Birmingham enemy.

The name decoder

Small Heath recycles names and fills the screen with flat caps — keep these apart:

Polly vs. Ada

The two central Shelby women. Polly = the aunt and matriarch (Helen McCrory). Ada = the only sister of the five siblings (Sophie Rundle). Polly advises Tommy; Ada eventually replaces him at the company.

Michael vs. Finn

Michael = the cousin (Polly’s son, arrives Season 2). Finn = the youngest brother (there from the start). One in a tailored suit, one forever proving himself.

Grace vs. Lizzie

Tommy’s two wives. Grace — Irish barmaid-spy, wife #1, dies in Season 3. Lizzie — his Birmingham secretary, wife #2, mother of Ruby, gone by the end of Season 6.

Arthur vs. Arthur Sr.

Same name, opposite men. Arthur Jr. = the eldest brother and enforcer. Arthur Sr. = their conman father who turns up in Season 1, steals from them, and leaves again.

Charles vs. Karl

Two boys, nearly one name. Charles = Tommy & Grace’s son. Karl = Ada & Freddie’s son — named after Karl Marx, on his father’s insistence.

The Lees vs. the Golds

Two Romani families allied to the Shelbys. The Lees feud with them in Season 1 until Esme’s wedding to John seals the peace. The Golds — Aberama and his son Bonnie — are hired guns from Season 4.

Gina vs. Grace

Both glamorous blonde outsiders married to Shelby men. Grace is Irish, Season 1–3, Tommy’s. Gina is American, Season 5–6, Michael’s — and loyal to her own family, not his.

Not family — but always in the room

Alfie Solomons as seen in the show, played by Tom Hardy

Alfie Solomons

Tom Hardy

Camden Town’s rum-distilling gang boss — Tommy’s best frenemy. Betrays him, allies with him, gets “killed” by him in Season 4, and is somehow alive in Margate anyway.

Inspector Chester Campbell as seen in the show, played by Sam Neill

Inspector Campbell †

Sam Neill

The Belfast policeman sent to hunt Tommy in Seasons 1–2 — Grace’s spymaster and obsessive rival. Polly ends him herself.

Sir Oswald Mosley as seen in the show, played by Sam Claflin

Sir Oswald Mosley

Sam Claflin

The fascist MP of Seasons 5–6, drawn from history — the one enemy Tommy plots against and cannot beat.

Billy Kimber as seen in the show, played by Charlie Creed-Miles

Billy Kimber †

Charlie Creed-Miles

The racetrack boss of Season 1 — the first empire the Shelbys take, and the template for every takeover after.

Aberama Gold as seen in the show, played by Aidan Gillen

Aberama Gold †

Aidan Gillen

Romani hitman hired in Season 4, father of boxer Bonnie † — and, late in life, Polly’s fiancé. Killed mid-mission in Season 5’s failed Mosley hit.

A note on the portraits: these are the characters as they appear on screen — stills from the Peaky Blinders wiki, cropped and served from this site so nothing is hotlinked. Chart covers all six seasons (1919–1934), so spoilers run to the very end: † marks the dead by the series finale — Grace, John, Polly, Ruby, Michael, Freddie, and Arthur Sr. among the family; Campbell, Kimber, and the Golds among the rest.