3. Grace Shelby

Up until the death of Grace Shelby, former undercover police operative and now beloved wife of Tommy Shelby, in the third season of Peaky Blinders, fans had been lulled into a false sense of security that the show was not prepared to kill off main characters.

Everyone subsequently got a colossal shock when the crime saga chose to kill off not just any main character, but Grace Shelby, the woman who had brought the shell shocked opium addicted version of Tommy back to life. For the first time in the series, Tommy appears truly happy with his beautiful new wife and son.

The tension in the scenes leading up to Grace’s death build up to an agonizing crescendo as the fiercely superstitious Tommy is informed the sapphire he has given to Grace bears a Romani curse. Seconds later, Grace has been gunned down by an Italian assassin sent by the aforementioned Vicente Changretta to avenge the blinding of his son Angel, the unintended recipient of a bullet meant for Tommy.

As his brothers viciously beat the unfortunate assassin to death, the background noise eerily fades out. The Shelby kingpin is left cradling the body of the love of his life, his world crashing in around him in an hauntingly desolate scene that set an ominous new precedent for characters on the show.

Who wants to be in heaven when you can be sending people to hell.