Steven Knight’s seminal British crime seriesPeaky Blindershas often played fast and loose with history in its portrayal of Birmingham’s most notorious gang during the early 20th century. However, there’s one particular real-life character who was so badly portrayed by the TV show that her appearance alongside Tommy Shelby caused considerable controversy. Jessie Eden is an important historical figure for her trade union leadership and activism. However,Peaky Blindersseasons 4 and 5got her portrayal so wrong that it would take a major character transformation to fix her image in the show.
Luckily, the series does have one last opportunity to do right by Jessie Eden in its upcomingspinoff movieThe Immortal Man. Since the show’s final season left the story of the Shelby brothers during the mid-1930s, the movie will be able to pick it up around the time of a major event in Birmingham’s history involving the real Jessie Eden. ThePeaky Blindersfilm could feature a fictionalized version of this event, with the gang’s financial interests at stake. Either way, Eden’s leading role in it could make up for the grave misrepresentation of her character during the show.
Peaky Blinders Misrepresented Jessie Eden In Seasons 4 And 5
This Real Life Hero Was Portrayed As Weak And Treacherous
The character of Jessie Eden inPeaky Blindersbegan as a faithful reflection of her real-life counterpart.She was an outstanding trade union leader who organized thousands of women workersduring the 1926 UK General Strike while still in her early twenties. The series shows Eden negotiating a labor dispute about women workers’ pay with Tommy Shelby during the year preceding the General Strike, with the crime boss finding her difficult to crack.
Unfortunately, that’s where the portrayal of Eden’s genuine heroism ends.Tommy Shelby romances her inPeaky Blindersseason 4, using his own personal history of socialist beliefs to manipulate her into having feelings for him. What’s worse, Shelby manages to convince Eden to give up the names of leading comrades in Birmingham, which he then passes onto the British government, helping them to put down the General Strike.
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This kind of betrayal runs completely contrary to the steadfast principles with which the real Jessie Eden acted during 1926. She would never have been seduced by Tommy Shelby, nor would she have given up the fellow supporters of her cause on account of romantic sentiments.
The overall treatment of Eden’s character throughout the show comes across as patronizing and misogynistic.
Peaky Blinders’ misrepresentation of Eden continues into season 5, when she has to be saved by Shelbyfrom getting arrested during a protest at one of Oswald Mosley’s rallies. Around this time, the real-life Jessie Eden had almost single-handedly led a successful strike of 10,000 women factory workers in Birmingham (viaThe Guardian). She certainly didn’t need a man to save her, much less a gangster like Tommy Shelby. The overall treatment of Eden’s character throughout the show comes across as patronizing and misogynistic, and it denigrates the great achievements of the real historical figure.
Peaky Blinders' Timeline Would Allow Eden To Feature In The Immortal Man
The Movie Spinoff Should Put Up The Peaky Blinders Story In The Late 1930s
Nevertheless, it’s still not too late forPeaky Blindersto turn its controversial portrayal of Jessie Edenaround. The show’s upcoming spinoff theatrical release,The Immortal Man, could incorporate Eden quite naturally into its plot.Peaky Blindersseason 6 ended with the show set in the mid-1930s, meaning thatThe Immortal Mancould pick up the story later in the same decade. The movie wrapping up Tommy Shelby’s narrative arc around 1939, the year World War Two started, would make a lot of sense, asPeaky Blindersbegins in the aftermath of World War One, in which Shelby himself served in the British Army.
The real Peaky Blinders gang was actually active in Birmingham between the 1880s and the 1920s before being usurped by Billy Kimber’s Birmingham Boys gang.
1939 just happened to be Jessie Eden’s finest hour. She was, by that stage, a highly experienced union leader of great authority, which allowed her to lead one of the most important events in Birmingham’s history that year. At the very same moment that Tommy Shelby’s fictional story is reaching a crescendo,The Immortal Manhas the chance to depict the climax of Jessie Eden’s decade and a half of interwar trade union activity.
Jessie Eden’s Real History Can Give Her A Big Role In The Peaky Blinders Movie
Eden Led One Of Birmingham And Small Heath’s Most Important Historical Events In 1939
1939 saw mass rent strikes spring up across Britain in protest against the slum-like conditions in which millions of workers and poor people were living.Jessie Eden organized one of the country’s biggest-ever citywide rent strikes in Birmingham, as almost 50,000 tenants held out for 12 weeks and won new housing conditions from their landlords (viaReading History). The strike would have included tenants in Small Heath, one of Birmingham’s most infamous interwar slums and the stomping ground of the Peaky Blinders.
In the show, the Peaky Blinders end up owning and/or controlling several factories, establishments, and swathes of land and property across Small Heath.The gang would unquestionably have something to say about the Birmingham rent strike if it features inThe Immortal Manbecause Shelby Company Ltd. would be either the landlord or the employer of many of those involved in the strike. Jessie Eden coming up against the Peaky Blinders in a mass rent strike, sticking to her principles, and winning would be just the turn of events the movie would need to rehabilitate her character.
Peaky Blinders Characters Confirmed For The Immortal Man So Far
Jessie Eden’s Charlie Murphy Isn’t One Of The Returning Cast Members Confirmed At This Stage
Jessie Eden actor Charlie Murphy hasn’t yet been confirmed as returning to thePeaky Blinderscast forThe Immortal Man, suggesting that her character may not feature in its story after all. So far, very few of the show’s original stars have been announced as part of the film’s cast.Aside from Tommy Shelby actor Cillian Murphy, only Sophie Rundle and Stephen Grahamwill be returning as major characters, playing Ada Thorne and Hayden Stagg, respectively.
However, several big stars are joining thePeaky Blinderscast for the first time, in as-yet unconfirmed roles, including Barry Keoghan, Rebecca Ferguson, and Tim Roth. Unfortunately,The Immortal Manmay not end up featuring Jessie Eden to right the wrongs of her portrayal in Peaky Blinders after all. However, there’ll still be plenty of other surprise characters in the movie to get excited about.
Peaky Blinders
Cast
Peaky Blinders is a historical crime drama created and written by Steven Knight and starring Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill, and Helen McCrory. The television show is based on the gang, Peaky Blinders, a group that banded together after the end of World War I.
