Peaky Blinders would be nothing without Aunt Pol, the matriarch of the Shelby family, played by the late British actor Helen McCory. She single-handedly managed the Shelby Limited Company while Tommy, Arthur, and John were away at war and up until now, acted as the company's treasurer and Tommy's consigliere. Her skill of reading people like the back of a book, which many refer to as a "second sight", that consistently kept Tommy and the group of gangsters ahead every season.
Speaking to Digital Spy back in 2019, Helen McCrory said of Polly, "I don't think it's this weird alien thing that's to do with a Ouija board and water . . . she might bring in the theatricality of that a bit, for other people, if she really wants to make her point across, but I think the truth of it is that she is very instinctive." Supernatural or not, without Pol, the Peaky Blinders would not exist.
Prior to playing Aunt Pol, Helen McCory starred as Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter, Cherie Blair in The Queen, and Clair Dowar MP in Skyfall. She's also had roles in Fantastic Mr. Fox, Doctor Who, and, most recently, His Dark Materials (she provided the voice for Stelmaria, Lord Asriel's daemon). McCrory died in April 2021 after a battle with cancer.