Peaky Blinders, BBC2 - TV review: Gang stand-off doesn't quite deliver

Ultimately, it was Noah Taylor as screaming Italian gang boss Darby Sabini who proved the most dangerous criminal: he stole the show right out from under their noses

Once upon a time in the Midlands: Cillian Murphy and Sophie Rundle in ‘Peaky Blinders’ (BBC)

Twiggy’s ancestors in Who Do You Think You Are? were small-time compared to the criminal cockneys we met in last night’s episode of Peaky Blinders (BBC2).

Though the series is usually set in 1920s Birmingham, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) had travelled south to broker a deal with the Yiddisher gangs, which meant a first appearance for slumming-it movie star Tom Hardy. You couldn’t accuse Hardy of under-playing – his Alfie Solomons was a flamboyant cross between Oliver Twist’s Fagin and Joe Pesci in Goodfellas – but the Shelby vs Solomons stand-off didn’t quite deliver on promised thrills.

Ultimately, it was Noah Taylor as screaming Italian gang boss Darby Sabini who proved the most dangerous criminal: he stole the show right out from under their noses.