 ✓
| ||
|
This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being | ||
  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | If the St. Andrews' clock strikes 5 A.M. on the night of the robbery and we don't have everything we asked for, the bell will be tolling for your boy. | „ |
| ~ Hughes threatening Tommy Shelby. |
Father John Hughes is the main antagonist in Season 3 of the BBC show Peaky Blinders.
He is an Irish priest and an agent of the Economic League, a British right-wing organization which supports anti-communist forces in the Soviet Union. He is the archenemy of Michael Gray.
He was portrayed by Paddy Considine, who also played Vladimir Malevich in Child 44 and The Outsider in its disguise as Claude Bolton in the TV adaptation of The Outsider.
Biography[]
Hughes is an agent of Section D, also known as the Economic League, a covert far-right organization with tremendous influence over the British political system. The Economic League serves as a proxy for the Conservative government to support the anti-communist White Army against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. However, in 1923 the socialist Labour Party are elected in Britain and seek to open diplomatic relations with the victorious Bolsheviks, forcing Hughes and his masters to find other ways of supporting anti-communist forces. They get into contact with Thomas Shelby, the head of the Birmingham Peaky Blinders gang, and strongarm him into agreeing to help them supply weapons to Russian anti-communists.
The initial meeting with the Russians is infiltrated by a spy from the Soviet embassy, alerting Tommy that someone in the Economic League has tipped off the Bolsheviks about the plot. Nevertheless, the plot goes ahead and Tommy meets with Father Hughes, who tasks him with stealing 27 armoured vehicles from a factory in Birmingham to transport to Soviet Georgia for a counter-revolution against the Bolsheviks. Hughes later hears that Tommy has been visiting his sister Ada, who has communist sympathies, and has him and his brother John arrested as a show of force, warning Tommy before his release that he will have Ada killed if he visits her again. He also hints that he could have Tommy's infant son Charles killed at any time, leaving a postcard reading "R.I.P. Charles Shelby" in the Shelby house to show that he is not bluffing.
Tommy investigates the apparent betrayal of the plot further and realizes that Hughes is the one leaking information to the Soviets and intends to provoke an act of Soviet aggression on British soil, forcing the government to break off diplomatic relations with the Soviets. He gets permission from the Russians to kill him; however, his aunt Polly Gray accidentally lets the plan to kill Hughes slip to one of his associates, who tips him off that he is to be killed. Hughes sets up an ambush for Tommy, who is ambushed and beaten to within an inch of his life when he tries to shoot Hughes, leaving him with a fractured skull and a cranial haemorrhage. He then forces Tommy to attend a meeting with the Russians despite his horrific injuries, compelling him to recant his claims against Hughes and smugly forcing him to recite the Act of Contrition with Hughes' name in place of God's. Tommy just about manages to make it through the meeting by taking drugs and tips off the Soviets about Hughes' plot before collapsing from his injuries, spending three months in hospital.
While Tommy is in hospital, his cousin Michael Gray comes to him and asks for permission to kill Hughes, explaining that he was sexually abused by Hughes while in care as a child. Tommy gives him permission over Polly's objections, especially since Hughes had previously insisted on unlimited access to a Shelby-run orphanage and likely plans to abuse the children. However, before Michael can move against Hughes, Alfie Solomons tips him off about the Shelby's betrayal of the plot, and that they are planning to rob from the Russian's secret cache of expensive jewellery. Hughes makes good on his earlier threat by kidnapping Charles and threatens to kill him if Tommy does not carry out the planned attack himself and give him all the proceeds from the robbery within 24 hours. He orders Tommy to bomb a train, and tells him that at least six people must die.
Tommy agrees to Hughes' demands and sends men to carry out the train bombing; however, he also gives Michael the go-ahead to kill Hughes, hoping that Michael can kill him and recover Charles before they have to go through with the bombing. Michael follows Hughes to a church and finds that he is keeping Charles there, but hesitates to shoot him when he gets the chance, giving Hughes a chance to attack him. Michael manages to get the upper hand on Hughes by stabbing his eye out before pinning him to the floor and cutting his throat. He and his fellow Blinders then recover Charles, but unfortunately Michael is unable to relay the message in time and the train is bombed anyway. Tommy later sells his family out to the police for the bombing and the murder of Hughes in order to foil the Economic League's plan.
External Links[]
- Father Hughes on the Peaky Blinders Wiki
- Father Hughes on the Pure Evil Wiki
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
The Shelbys Peaky Blinders Birmingham Police force Irish Republican Army Changretta Crime Family The Economic League The British Union of Fascists Others | ||