Peaky Blinders (TV Series)

Mr. Jones (2019)

Cillian Murphy: Thomas Shelby

Photos 

Quotes 

• Thomas Shelby : Hello, Alfie.

  Alfie Solomons : Yeah, did you, did you look through the binoculars?

  Thomas Shelby : Yeah.

  Alfie Solomons : I watch ships. No two are the same. Yeah. That is how God sees us both in his eyes.

  Thomas Shelby : God, eh?

  Alfie Solomons : Yeah, sort of, I mean, you know, someone who's responsible for all this fucking mess. Now, how soon did you know that I was not dead?

  Thomas Shelby : You wrote me a letter, Alfie.

  Alfie Solomons : Did I?

  Thomas Shelby : Yeah, you asked about your dog.

  Alfie Solomons : Oh, they, they gave me a lot of drugs at first, yeah, all right. I was lyin' out there, and the tide come in, and it woke me up. I remember lookin' around and thinking, you know, "Fuck... if this is hell... then it looks a lot like Margate."

  Thomas Shelby : Maybe that's just what hell looks like, eh?

  Alfie Solomons : [picking up a copy of the Torah]  No, no, not accordin' to this holy book right here, yeah? It gives a very, very vivid description. You and I are both fucked, mate.

• Thomas Shelby : You read the papers, Alfie?

  Alfie Solomons : No, don't be silly.

  [he casually pulls out a pistol, cocks it, and aims it at Tommy] 

  Thomas Shelby : But you've heard.

  Alfie Solomons : What, fascism, yeah?

  Thomas Shelby : Three... two... one... bang.

  [Alfie doesn't shoot] 

  Thomas Shelby : No? All right.

  [Alfie lowers his gun] 

  Alfie Solomons : Good Lord, your fucking condition has got worse, mate. Mine, on the other hand, I, I've been livin' the dream. Sometimes I will shoot at the side of a ship, and sometimes I'll sit here, I may shoot at the ol' seagull.

  Thomas Shelby : Alfie... I'm gonna shoot Oswald Mosley.

  Alfie Solomons : Right, well, I hope you do a better job on him than the one you done on me, yeah? I mean, what, what were you thinkin'? Was your mind somewhere else, Tommy?

  Thomas Shelby : Yes, it was, actually.

  Alfie Solomons : Yeah. All right. Oh, look. A ship.

  [he makes a show of looking through his binoculars] 

• Churchill : You speak beautifully in the House.

  Thomas Shelby : Thank you.

  Churchill : And believe not a word of what you are saying.

  Thomas Shelby : Conviction introduces emotion, which is the enemy of oratory.

  Churchill : You read Greek literature.

  Thomas Shelby : I have trouble sleeping. Is there a reason for your visit, Mr. Churchill?

  Churchill : You are forming an alliance with a fascist. So, I made some inquiries amongst the worst people in Whitehall, and I found out that you are not forming an alliance with him at all. You are spying on him.

  Thomas Shelby : Yes.

  Churchill : Why?

  Thomas Shelby : The honest answer is... I'm no longer sure.

  Churchill : Do you dig your own garden, Mr. Shelby?

  Thomas Shelby : I have a gardener. In fact, I have three gardeners. Three generations of men with no ambition, who are happier than I will ever be.

  Churchill : Well, if you ask them, they will tell you that there are certain species of weed. No matter how much you tug at them, poison them, they continue to grow back. In the end, the only solution is to plough up the topsoil, create a field of mud, and blow up and burn the exposed taproots. That's what you and I did in France. But when I hear that man Mosley speak, I see the green shoots of another war growing up around his feet. And you see exactly the same thing I do. That's why you oppose him. Yeah. Your mystery, solved. What is your strategy?

  Thomas Shelby : I won't burden you with it.

  Churchill : You're going to break the law.

  Thomas Shelby : [sighs]  I need to sleep.

  Churchill : You said you don't sleep.

  Thomas Shelby : I said I have trouble sleeping.

  Churchill : As do I... as do I. Mr. Shelby, I have no doubts that there was once a time in Flanders, when you were under the ground and I was above it, both working to the same end. We are in the same exact situation here in Westminster. Do what you have to do, Mr. Shelby. And if you need anything, call me.

  Thomas Shelby : There are some times, some nights... when I don't see the point of carrying on with any of it.

  Churchill : Hmm. That old dance routine. I put out a cigar, and an hour later, I want another. Sometimes the bridge between hours is as fragile as that. But use it anyway. A tent, then a boat, then a house, now a mansion. It's something, isn't it?

  Thomas Shelby : Yeah. It is something.

• Churchill : You prefer Irish to Scotch?

  Thomas Shelby : Yes, Mr. Churchill.

  Churchill : Irish over Scotch. Cigarettes over Havana cigars. And your mother was probably born in a tent.

  Thomas Shelby : Grandmother in a tent. Me mother on a narrowboat.

  Churchill : And always happy to give smart answers to men born better than you.

  Thomas Shelby : A man needs to prove he is better than me, rather than show me his birth certificate. See, I don't have one, so they mean very little to me.

• Churchill : By the way, was it you who killed that Ulsterman intelligence officer? I forget his name.

  Thomas Shelby : Major Campbell.

  Churchill : Yes. Campbell.

  Thomas Shelby : No. It was me aunt.

  Churchill : I really must come up to Birmingham someday and spend an evening with your family. They sound interesting.

  Thomas Shelby : Yes. We'd like that.

• [talking about assassinating Mosley] 

  Alfie Solomons : How much you payin'?

  Thomas Shelby : Thought you might do it for the cause, Alfie.

  Alfie Solomons : Oh, fuck off.

  Thomas Shelby : Each man will get 20 pound. You'll get 5,000.

  Alfie Solomons : You know, as a god, Tommy, right, I am now able to just rise above those kinds of insults, mate.

  Thomas Shelby : Ten?

  Alfie Solomons : How is my dog?

  Thomas Shelby : Your dog is fine.

  Alfie Solomons : In that case, ten should be enough. Where do you want the men?

  Thomas Shelby : Birmingham.

  Alfie Solomons : No, no. 20 will not be enough for my lads to step inside that fucking shithole. It'll have to be 25 at least.

  Thomas Shelby : 25 it is. You can take your dog back, then, eh?

  Alfie Solomons : No, it is better for him to think that I am still dead. As is also with the police. Right. So you're still at it, eh, Tommy? Mmm. Ain't got no Margate to go to. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk.

  Thomas Shelby : No. And I have no interest in shooting seagulls.

  Alfie Solomons : Oh, but you have in shooting Cabinet ministers?

  Thomas Shelby : Yeah. And their paid informants.

  Alfie Solomons : Hm. I was on a lot of drugs at first, right, due to the pain, you know, on account of, well, you know, bein' shot in the face by some cunt. I won't bore you with the details, it'd chill you. Nonetheless, I had a recurring dream. I saw you in a field, right, with a big black horse, and you said, "Goodbye," and then, bang.

  [pause] 

  Alfie Solomons : All right, then. Well... what now?

  [pause] 

  Thomas Shelby : I will continue... 'til I find a man that I can't defeat.

• [talking about assassinating Mosley] 

  Alfie Solomons : Why do you want to shoot him?

  Thomas Shelby : I need to organise a riot, Alfie.

  Alfie Solomons : All right.

  Thomas Shelby : And I hear you still have some... standing... in the Jewish community.

  Alfie Solomons : Let me be clear, all right? Since my resurrection, I am considered to be a god, all right? In the Holy Land, someone has made an image of me out of rock embedded in the sand, so I am told, and I am planning to make a pilgrimage to stand in my own shadow.

  [pause] 

  Alfie Solomons : Are you gonna shoot him because this man is evil?

  Thomas Shelby : I need men who can fight. Mosley uses men from Glasgow, so if the men causing the trouble are Jewish, it will be... explicable.

  Alfie Solomons : Since when do you need explanations, Tommy?

  Thomas Shelby : Since I entered politics.

  Alfie Solomons : Oh, that's right, yeah, oh, yeah. And how has that been for you, Tom?

  Thomas Shelby : Gangs, wars, truces. Nothing I didn't already know.

  [Alfie snores sarcastically] 

  Alfie Solomons : So if you, if you kill him, you, you will kill the message, yeah?

  Thomas Shelby : I will kill the man. Then I will kill the message.