I Love Peaky Blinders, But Only Just Realized Two Shelby Brothers Are Related In Real Life

While Peaky Blinders is one of the best period gangster shows ever made, the Netflix show’s compelling story totally blinded me to one interesting behind-the-scenes tidbit that is strikingly obvious upon a re-watch. Although The Sopranos is one of the best gangster TV shows ever made, the success of the series fundamentally shifted the way that career criminals were depicted onscreen. Before The Sopranos, most mob movies, like The Godfather trilogy and Goodfellas, treated the mafia with almost romantic reverence.

Whether it was the gritty excitement of Scorsese’s Goodfellas or the more operatic, Shakespearean tragedy of Coppola’s mob epic, the mafia was always far from mundane. In contrast, the mob of The Sopranos were suburban, middle-class everymen, and the contrast between their brutal business and their humdrum family lives was a striking change for the genre. HBO’s Boardwalk Empire injected some glamour and gravitas back into the small-screen mob, but it was a later hit that made criminality truly cool again.

Set in Birmingham in the wake of the social and economic devastation left behind by the First World War, creator Steven Knight’s Peaky Blinders was a massive hit for Netflix. The crime drama starred Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, a conflicted veteran attempting to turn the titular gang into a force to be reckoned with in the city’s underworld. Facing opposition from the police, rival gangs, and later British fascists, Tommy’s gang navigated all manner of challenges across the show’s six seasons.

Peaky Blinders' John & Michael Actors Are Brothers In Real Life

The non-stop action and sharp historical commentary of Peaky Blinders left viewers with little time to focus on the show’s universally strong cast, which included both established stars like Murphy, Sam Neill, Charlotte Riley, Sam Claflin, and Paddy Considine, and emerging talents like Anya Taylor-Joy, Cosmo Jarvis, and Emmett J. Scanlan. This meant that it wasn’t until I rewatched the series that I realized Michael Gray’s actor, Finn Cole, was the real life brother of John Shelby’s actor, Joe Cole.

The third-youngest of the Shelby brothers, Joe Cole’s Johnny is a series regular from seasons 1-4, while his real-life younger brother Finn took on the role of Michael from seasons 2-6. With seven years in the difference between them, the pair are similar enough for their family resemblance to become obvious on a re-watch, although their very different career paths mean that Peaky Blinders is the only time they have shared the screen together.

Where Else You've Seen Joe & Finn Cole In TV & Film

Finn Cole’s first major movie roles came in 2018’s horror comedy Slaughterhouse Rulez, alongside Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield, and 2019’s period thriller Dreamland, where he costarred with future Barbie heroine Margot Robbie. Cole went on to play a young Jakob Toretto in F9’s flashbacks as well as playing the lead role of J in Animal Kingdom from 2016 until its cancellation in 2022.

Joe Cole’s movie and TV career began earlier, with roles in 2014’s mystery The Falling and the same year’s underrated Nick Hornby adaptation A Long Way Down. Since then, Cole has appeared in the movies A Prayer Before Dawn, Happy New Year, Colin Burstead, Thank You For Your Service, and The Damned, as well as playing a memorable supporting role in the intense siege thriller Green Room.

Cole also starred in an episode of Netflix’s dark sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror, and has played the lead role of Sean Wallace in the British gangster series Gangs of London since 2020. He portrayed Harry Palmer in 2022’s remake of The Ipcress File, a role previously portrayed by Michael Caine in the 1965 movie of the same name. As impressive as the careers of both brothers are, however, Peaky Blinders remains the most recognizable title that both the Cole brothers boast on their screen CVs.