5 most evil Peaky Blinders characters we love to hate

Beyond being a popular British Crime drama, Peaky Blinders has also gained a cult following since its release in 2013. Featuring stylised violence, the series contains historical events and deep psychology to create a world where morality is clouded and power dictates everything. Murky, post-WWI landscapes of Birmingham are accompanied by the stoic and brilliant Tommy Shelby and his family at the centre of the plot.

Set in the gritty aftermath of World War I, Peaky Blinders is a British crime drama that follows the ruthless rise of the Shelby family in Birmingham’s underworld. At its core is Thomas Shelby, a war hero turned gang leader, whose ambition to legitimise and expand the family business often walks the line between brilliance and brutality. The show thrives on power plays, betrayals, and deeply personal rivalries—always with the impeccably dressed, razor-cap-wearing Shelbys at the eye of the storm. Whether it’s illegal betting, opium smuggling, or political ambition, the Shelbys are always orchestrating the chaos, making them both the anti-heroes and anchors of this stylish, high-stakes saga.

But it's not just the Shelbys that keep us enthralled. Peaky Blinders is crammed with nasty people – evil, sexy honkin', and even a bit of the crazed looking to put those family traitors through their paces. There is something about the show's antagonists that draw us in; they are not mere impediments. They are motivated by their ideologies and it is these ideological reasons that makes them generally evil.

They are not just there to fill the time, but they are fully developed characters. These villains add to the drama, tempt the Shelbys over the cliff and god, do we love to watch them tear everything apart.

---

The 5 most evil Peaky Blinders villains the show has given us

These are the five most evil Peaky Blinders characters we love to hate:

Linda Shelby (Kate Phillips)

Unlike the other villains in Peaky Blinders, Linda's is more of a psychological, personal kind of evil. As the wife of Arthur Shelby, she comes off as a calming presence—the kind of Christian wife who is trying to redeem her husband from his violence. However, she becomes increasingly manipulative and judgmental, over time even using emotional blackmail to get her way. She takes the morality of God and turns it against Arthur, making herself superior to everyone in the Shelby family.

This is evidenced by her condescending manner, betraying Arthur and trying to kill him; her piety is just an act, best suited to serve her true motivations. A demonstration of emotional cruelty in the face of a house full of gangsters, Linda is the biggest proof that emotional cruelty can cut deeper than any blade.

Major Chester Campbell (Sam Neil)

Major Chester Campbell can be best described as an early season solid guy-turned-prick of epic proportions in authority. Upon being sent to Birmingham for the clean-up, Campbell is first shown to us as a law abiding man, but his obsession with control (and then Grace Burgess) teaches him to be more sinister on the evil scale. He commits all acts of manipulation, coercion and murder under the façade that if they are evil…well, they were probably headed in this direction anyway, and he's probably doing the world a favor.

From the start, his hatred for Tommy Shelby escalates to a personal vendetta, stretching the law thin and becoming more dangerous than anything. He has a sense of moral superiority that seems to justify his actions in his eyes.

Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody)

Luca Changretta is the picture of an old-school gangster, literally an addition to the Shelby family's turmoil in Season 4 Peaky Blinders. He brings an old-school gangster's grace to the Shelbys’ perpetual trouble. His role in the Italian American mafia sees him return to Birmingham to avenge his father’s assassination, which sparks a meticulously planned and brutal war with the Shelbys.

Beyond blood, Luca seeks psychological annihilation. A word able to describe Adrien Brody’s theatrical yet chilling performance is gravitas, and indeed, with a villain that seems so untouchable, this seems fitting. Every single scene that he is in, he dominates, and it feels as if he is striding through a chessboard, always a few steps ahead, knowing no one can catch up to him.

Father John Hughes (Paddy Considine)

When Father Hughes makes his entrance during Season 3 of Peaky Blinders, all signs of evil become even more sinister and unsettling. Hughes is one of the key players in the Economic League.

He functions as the hyper-political head of a synod and a scout of unsuspecting prey hidden under the veil of faith. His manipulative and predatory abuse of power, especially towards helpless children, makes him one of the most viscerally repellent characters in the series to date. Gangsters dirty their hands for survival, Hughes is evil just because he likes power, and he keeps it hidden beneath layers of sanctimony.

Oswald Mosley (Sam Claffin)

No villain truly scares more than the one based on an actual person in the real world. Based on the somewhat real-life character for its chilling effect, Oswald Mosley is a fascist modelled after the real Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, also a fascist, who left the Labour Party to form the British Union of Fascists.

His charm, smarts and utter devotion to fascist ideology make him one of the scariest enemies in Peaky Blinders. This is not true with any other enemy. Unlike every other opponent, Mosley doesn’t fear the Shelbys, he sees them as a roadblock or impediment. Nothing sets his confidence more, and his racism is uncensored; it is a cold, unfiltered thing that just wants power for himself. The depravity of the show rises above all the efforts of the Shelbys to bring down this guy.

---

Are there villains in the show more evil than these?

Peaky Blinders is available to watch on Netflix.