Peaky Blinders Fans Praise 'Perfect' Tribute To Helen McCrory In Season 6 Episode 1

Warning - this article contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders

The actor tragically passed away last year aged 52, after a private battle with breast cancer. The first episode of series six was always going to be a sorrowful one for fans after the loss of Helen, and viewers have praised the show's handling of her death on screen.

Watch the Helen McCrory tribute here:

Fans took to Twitter to react to the touching tribute to Helen.

"So pleased that the tribute to Helen McCrory ran throughout that episode. With what they had to work with it was a fitting end to Aunt Polly," tweeted one viewer.

"The passing of Polly Gray couldn't have been scripted any better, a perfect tribute to the great Helen McCrory," added a second fan. "It takes an incredible cast to have the courage to act out those scenes and they did her proud. Brilliant first episode".

A third viewer called the tribute "beautifully done" while a fourth called the earlier funeral scene and the addition of chirping birds during the end credits "brilliant".

The fan wrote: "#PeakyBlinders was brilliant, like usual. Don't mess with Tommy Shelby. The tributes to Helen McCrory with her portrait being cremated at the start and the credit tribute at the end with bird sounds playing were very poignant."

The tribute in the end credits came after Helen's character Aunt Polly was killed off screen in the intense opening episode.

The new episode picked up exactly where series five ended, with Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) held at gunpoint.

He is told over the phone that his beloved aunt and Shelby family matriarch Polly has been killed.

Aunt Polly’s body is returned to her family , which is laid to rest in an exquisitely shot funeral scene in which every member of the gang is shown reacting to the loss in silence.

What a lovely tribute!

Peaky Blinders continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.