Peaky Blinders creator intentionally keeps his characters off the 'road to happiness'

"Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight in a chat with PeakyBlinders.tv shared that Tommy's past had taken a severe toll on his mind and he was almost impossible to escape. He was emotionally shut down for a long time - and even though he fell in love and things changed for the better, tragedy still awaited the character. Tommy became tough and brutal because he had seen the worst of humanity during the war, and he was “frozen inside,” like many who experience the trauma of war, Knight said. /p>

"During really horrible war situations, human beings change very quickly. Part of the subconscious decides 'If you want to survive, you have to be like this' so that's what you become - tough and brutal and all those things that happen to soldiers. When Tommy came back, he couldn't stop it. He was frozen inside, like a lot of people who went through the trauma of war."

Knight further explained how when Tommy met Grace (Annabelle Wallis) and fell in love with her, he allowed her presence to transform his life, even momentarily. His death knocked him to the ground, hastening his mental downfall.