Freddie Thorne

Freddie Thorne is a communist agitator in Small Heath, first seen returning from the war with a rifle's discipline and a rebel's convictions. He organises factory workers, speaks at meetings, and lives modestly in defiance of the Shelbys' rising money. Loyal to Tommy since childhood, he still won't bend his politics to friendship.

Iddo Goldberg gives Freddie a quiet, unshowy conviction that cuts through the show's swagger — he's the one man in Small Heath who isn't dazzled by the Shelbys' ascent. The friendship with Tommy, built on mutual respect across an ideological gulf, gives Peaky Blinders its earliest sense of moral counterweight.