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Arthur Shelby Jr. is a fictional character on the British crime drama TV series Peaky Blinders, in which he is portrayed by British actor Paul Anderson. The character has received positive reviews from critics.

Arthur Shelby
Peaky Blinders character
First appearance	Series 1, Episode 1 (2013)
Created by	Steven Knight
Portrayed by	Paul Anderson
In-universe information
Full name	Arthur Shelby
Occupation	Gangster Businessman Soldier
Affiliation	Peaky Blinders
Family	Polly Gray (aunt) Michael Gray (cousin) Tommy Shelby (brother) John Shelby (brother) Finn Shelby (brother) Ada Thorne (sister)
Spouse	Linda Shelby
Children	Billy Shelby
Nationality	British

Arthur is the older of the Shelby brothers and a gangster in 1920s Birmingham, England. Hot-headed, but willing to protect his brothers and family at any cost, Arthur suffers from post- dramatic stress disorder, due to his experiences as a Wold War 1 veteran. He is initially the leader of the Peaky Blinders gang, but his brother Tommy starts assuming de facto leadership of the gang, due to his brother's mental health issues.

Storylines

Series 1

After returning from the Great War, Arthur struggles to be the head of the family business. However, he can't command the necessary authority and Tommy Shelby slowly starts to assume leadership. When Royal Irish Constabulary C.I. Chester Campbell comes to Birmingham, Arthur is arrested, beaten and questioned as the leader of the Shelbys' criminal enterprise. Eventually, Arthur learns that Tommy has stolen machine guns from the Birmingham Small Arms Factory, the guns Campbell is searching for. The two brothers disagree on almost everything and, eventually, Arthur helps his estranged father rob the Peaky Blinders, but soon realises his mistake and joins forces with Tommy and his younger brother, John, to take over Billy Kimber's territory.

Series 2

Despite their differences, Arthur, Tommy and John organize their expansion to London and Arthur begins running the Shelbys' territory on the city. However, his emotional breakdowns worsen, as does his personal relationship with his three younger brothers, when he starts using cocaine. As a dominant crime boss in London, Arthur meets with Alfie Solomons, Tommy's new ally, who hosts a Passover Seder. However, Alfie betrays him and has him sent to prison. At the same time, the Sabini Gang take over their old territory and oust the Shelbys from London. Arthur highly doubts that his brothers can do anything to stop what appears to be their downfall, but John insists on following Tommy's plan. In the end, Arthur is released from prison, when Alfie switches allegiance to the Shelbys, who reunite, patch up their differences and class with Sabini at the Epsom racecourse.

Series 3

Arthur has met and married a devoted Christian woman, Linda Shelby. Because of Linda's faith, Arthur has begun believing in God himself and the two envision a life in California, away from Small Heath, although he still engages in infidelity and drug abuse. Their plans, however, fall apart, when Arthur is arrested for his involvement in Tommy's dealings with the Russians and the Economic League.

Series 4

Arthur, along with John, Michael and Polly, is prepared to be executed for his many crimes, but Tommy arranges his release from prison at the last minute. Months later, the Shelbys are estranged from one another. They all receive a black hand from Luca Changretta, son of Vicente Changretta (a past victim of the Shelbys) and a leader in New York's American Mafia, marking each of them to death. In spite of the obvious threat, Tommy fails to summon each member of the family on time and John is killed. Both Arthur and Tommy swear revenge for their brother's death and Arthur prepares a bulled with Changretta's name on it. Both Tommy and Linda want to stop Arthur from killing Changretta, each for their own different reasons. The New York mobster organizes a series of attacks on the family, including a mock assassination attempt on Arthur, using the mother of a past teenage victim of his. Meanwhile, Alfie Solomons, Tommy and Arthur organize a underground boxing match to be held at Small Heath between Bonnie Gold and Alfie's nephew, Goliath, in an attempt to promote Gold, in exchange for the services of his father, Aberama, a contract killer. In spite of their deal, Alfie betrays Tommy and Arthur by allowing Luca's hitmen to enter the boxing arena. When one of the men (Luca's assassin) leaves the boxing arena, Arthur follows in pursuit and appears to be mortally wounded by him. The Changrettas meet with Tommy at his distillery in order to have him sign over all his assets to them. After it is revealed Changretta has been outmatched, as Tommy has turned his men against him, a fistfight between the two ensues. Suddenly, Arthur enters the distillery and shoots Luca. It is revealed that Tommy had Arthur fake his death to lure Luca into the trap.

Series 5

Because of Tommy's involvement in politics, Arthur has taken over as the sole leader of the Shelbys' criminal empire, which has been financially devastated by the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. At the same time, Arthur sees his marriage to Linda falling apart even resulting in his wife attempting to kill him and leaving him permanently. Later, he gets involved in drug trafficking with Chinese dealer Brilliant Chang, but Chang's shipment coming to Birmingham is hijacked by a rival gang. Arthur soon finds out the snitch to be Garrison bartender Mickey Gibbs, who is later personally killed by Tommy. In the end, Arthur assists Tommy in a failed assassination attempt on fascist politician Oswald Mosley. After seeing their plans falling apart, Arthur and Tommy return to Small Heath, where Tommy apparently puts a gun in his head and attempts to commit suicide.

Critical reception and cultural impact

The character has received a generally positive response from critics and is one of the most popular characters in Peaky Blinders.

According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), Peaky Blinders has had a detectable cultural impact in the UK. For example, in 2018 the name Arthur surged into the top 10 boys names for the first time since the 1920s. The assumption by the ONS is that the popularity of the names was inspired by the character of Arthur Shelby.