Series 1, Episode 6 — the reckoning, and the highest price is paid by a man once saved

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The sixth episode is the finale, and it settles every account left open since the first. It is no longer about stolen rifles, nor about family, but about the one thing that means everything in this world: control of the betting business on the racecourses. Whoever holds it is no longer a street gangster but a businessman. Tommy wants exactly that — and for it, Billy Kimber has to go.

This recap names the events of the finale, places them in their historical context and shows what of this world could be found in Hamburg. It does not replace watching, and does not want to.

The episode at a glance

Original title	Episode 6 (the British episodes carry no individual titles) — the series finale; German title “Showdown”
First broadcast	17 October 2013, BBC Two — Germany: 7 July 2014, Sky Atlantic
Written by	Steven Knight
Directed by	Tom Harper
Setting and time	Birmingham, 1919

What it is about

Tommy has prepared the war he does not want to fight as a war. He calls the “Black Star Day” — a race day on which the Shelbys, backed by the Lee family, move onto Kimber's ground. It is a trap announced in advance: Kimber is meant to come, and he is meant to lose. What Tommy does not know is that Inspector Campbell is already playing the same instrument — he has tipped Kimber off, hoping the two gangs will destroy one another and save him the work.

Outside the Garrison it comes to the confrontation. The Birmingham Boys are there, the Peaky Blinders are there, and for a moment the street stands on the edge of a bloodbath. Then the unexpected happens: Ada pushes the pram with her son right between the lines and forces both sides to lower their weapons for a moment. She is the only figure in the episode who wins with plain humanity, and she does it unarmed.

The peace does not hold. Kimber draws and fires at Tommy — and Danny “Whizz-Bang”, the returning soldier whom Tommy had spared in the very first episode, throws himself in the way and takes the bullet. He dies for the man who had given him a second life. Only then does Tommy shoot Kimber. He lets the remaining Birmingham Boys live — not out of mercy, but because he needs them as a business. With Kimber's death his betting empire falls to the Shelbys; overnight a street gang becomes the third-largest bookmaker in England.

And Grace? Her double role finally breaks open. Polly sees through her and confronts her in the Garrison — Grace draws her gun, and the two women fight a duel of words that neither wins. By then Tommy already knows what Grace is, and yet he offers her the other life: a fresh start, away from here. He writes to her that he will decide within three days.

But Campbell does not let her go. In the closing scene he intercepts Grace at the station, the gun in his hand. A shot is heard — and the series ends without showing whom it hits. It is Campbell's last revenge: not on Tommy's life, but on his heart.

What is historically true — and what is not

The finale tells of a business that really existed, and of a man who really existed. Hardly any episode of the first series stands as close to history as this one.

In the episode	Historically
Billy Kimber and the Birmingham Boys	Real: Billy Kimber (around 1882–1945) led the Birmingham Boys, who controlled the betting business on the racecourses of the Midlands and southern England. The feud with the Shelbys is invented
The fight for the racecourse betting business	Holds: around 1920 gangs in England fought over protection money from bookmakers and fixed pitches — the “Racecourse Wars” between the Birmingham Boys and the London Sabini gang are documented
Winston Churchill pulling the strings in the background	Real core: Churchill was Secretary of State for War and Air in 1919 and jointly responsible for internal unrest. That he personally hunts the Blinders is invention
Danny Whizz-Bang dies of the after-effects of the war	Real in the background: the returning soldiers of 1918 often suffered from what was called shell shock — untreated, with a high number of early deaths. Danny himself is invented
A street gang turns into a legal bookmaker	Fits: the path from protection money to licensed betting was real — organised crime gave itself a respectable veneer in these years
Grace as a planted agent	Rare, but documented: British authorities used women for observation as early as the war. The character Grace is fictional

How much of the gang itself is documented is set out in our article on the real Peaky Blinders.

The Hamburg angle

A finale decided at the racecourse would have been understood in Hamburg at once. Racing has been held in Horn since 1869, and the German Derby is still the country's biggest flat race. A race day was never only sport: it was money, a crowd and opportunity — and around the bookmakers, the bets and the pitches gathered the same shady scene that the Birmingham Boys supplied in England.

Whoever organised that scene gave himself a respectable name. In Berlin the “Ringvereine” were the best known — associations that disguised themselves as sporting or social clubs and in truth controlled protection money, receiving stolen goods and betting. Hamburg had comparable milieus around the Kiez and the harbour: fixed territories, fixed rules, and a violence that rarely became public because it worked inwards. The leap the Shelbys make in the finale — from the street into licensed business — was the goal here too: not to stand out, but to belong.

And the quiet tragedy of the episode, Danny Whizz-Bang, was no exception in Hamburg but everyday life. The First World War sent tens of thousands of men back to the Elbe as well, outwardly whole and inwardly broken. Some found a footing, many did not — and part of the Kiez legends we tell on the Reeperbahn tour begins exactly there: with a man who came back from the war and found no place in peace. How this half-world was ordered is set out in Hamburg's underworld in the 1920s.

Fact box

• Billy Kimber: around 1882 to 1945, real leader of the Birmingham Boys, controlled the racecourse betting business in the Midlands and southern England
• Racecourse Wars: gang fights around 1920 between the Birmingham Boys and the London Sabini gang over protection money and bookmakers' pitches
• Horn racecourse: the flat-racing course in Hamburg-Horn; the German Derby has been run there since 1869
• Ringvereine: criminal associations of the 1920s disguised as clubs — best known in Berlin, with comparable structures in Hamburg
• Series and run: 6 series of 6 episodes each, 36 episodes, 2013 to 2022; followed by the feature film “The Immortal Man”

Frequently asked questions

What is series 1, episode 6 of Peaky Blinders called?

In the British original the episodes of the first series carry no individual titles; it is simply Episode 6, the series finale. The German release calls it “Showdown”. It first aired on 17 October 2013 on BBC Two, in Germany on 7 July 2014 on Sky Atlantic.

What happens in the series 1 finale?

Tommy forces Billy Kimber and the Birmingham Boys to a decision with the “Black Star Day”. Outside the Garrison the gangs face off; Ada pushes the pram between the lines. When Kimber fires at Tommy, Danny Whizz-Bang takes the bullet and dies. Tommy then kills Kimber and spares his men. The Shelbys take over Kimber's betting business and become the third-largest bookmaker in England. Grace is exposed as Campbell's informant; Polly confronts her in the Garrison. At the end Campbell intercepts Grace at the station with a drawn gun, a shot is heard, and the series ends open.

Who was Billy Kimber really?

Billy Kimber (around 1882 to 1945) is not an invented character. He led the “Birmingham Boys”, who in the 1910s and 1920s controlled the betting business and protection rackets on the racecourses of the Midlands and southern England. Historically he allied for a time with the Sabini gang from London and later fought the “Racecourse Wars” against them. The specific feud with the Shelbys in the series is invented.

Does Danny Whizz-Bang die in the finale?

Yes. Danny “Whizz-Bang”, the returning soldier whom Tommy had spared in the first episode, takes the bullet Kimber fires at Tommy in the showdown and dies. His death closes the arc from the first to the last episode of the series.

Were the racecourse wars real?

Yes. In the years around 1920 rival gangs in England fought for control of the betting business on the horse-racing courses — protection money from bookmakers, fixed pitches, violence against competitors. The “Racecourse Wars” between the Birmingham Boys under Billy Kimber and the London Sabini gang are historically documented.

What has the finale to do with Hamburg?

The fight over racecourse and betting has a Hamburg counterpart. Racing has been held in Horn since 1869, and the German Derby is still the country's biggest flat race — and the same shady scene gathered around the betting, the bookmakers and the course as it did in England. The organised underworld disguised itself as sporting and social clubs; in Berlin these structures were called “Ringvereine”, and Hamburg had comparable milieus around the Kiez and the harbour.

The end of the series

With “Showdown” the first series ends — and deliberately leaves the decisive question open. What becomes of Tommy, Grace and Campbell is only resolved in series 2. Every episode published so far is listed in the episode guide, and the previous one is series 1, episode 5.

About the author

Eike “Peaky Blinder” Griesbach is chairman of the Peaky Blinders Club Hamburg and leads the tours himself — in pinstripes and flat cap, along the Reeperbahn and through the smugglers' tunnels beneath St. Pauli.

Two broadcasters have told his story: NDR in “From life on the street to tour guide on the Reeperbahn” (Das Rote Sofa), and Swiss television SRF in its feature on 400 years of the Reeperbahn from August 2026.

Second chairman and founding member of the club is Ekkehart Opitz, who leads the tours through St. Georg. Both answer questions about dates and groups via contact.

On the history of organised crime in the Weimar years, research on the Ringvereine offers the most factual introduction. Peaky Blinders is a BBC production; this article is an independent review and has no connection with the rights holders.