Content Warning: Portions of this entry make mention of suicide, which some may find difficult or upsetting. If you need support or are dealing with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's website or call 1-800-273-8255.

About

Tommy Shelby Holding a Gun to His Head is a reaction image based on the cliffhanger ending scene of season five of the period crime drama series Peaky Blinders in which the main character Thomas Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy) holds a gun to his head in a suicide attempt. Online, the image gained virality as a reaction, and in December 2022, it achieved association with the Cels When phrasal template.

Origin

On September 22nd, 2019, episode six "Mr Jones" of season five of the period crime drama series Peaky Blinders premiered.^[1] In the final scene of the episode, the main character Thomas Shelby is shown screaming and holding a gun to his head, with the episode ending in a cliffhanger (scene shown below).

The image of Tommy Shelby holding a gun to his head has been used as a reaction image for unfortunate situations that push one to the brink, usually in a comically exaggerated way, at least since October 2020. On October 8th that year, Twitter^[2] account @ShelbyProbably posted the earliest viral tweet using the image, a How It Started vs. How It's Going meme, which gained over 3,600 retweets and 16,800 likes in two years (shown below).

Spread

On August 9th, 2021, Twitter^[3] account @peaky_script posted the image with a text description, with the post gaining over 80 retweets and 470 likes in one year (shown below, left). Until December 2022, the image saw occasional use as a reaction, often used by sports fans to react to poor results shown by the teams they support. For example, on February 26th, 2022, Twitter^[4] user @htomufc posted the image together with recent match results of football club Manchester United. The tweet garnered over 1,300 retweets and 11,200 likes in ten months (shown below, right).

On December 20th, 2022, Twitter^[5] user @AetiusRF combined the image with the Cels When caption format, with the tweet (shown below) gaining over 900 retweets, 1,100 quote tweets and 9,300 likes in two weeks and triggering viral spread of the image on Twitter in the following weeks.

In late December 2022, several memes using the image in conjunction with the Cels When format went viral on Twitter. For example, on December 21st, Twitter^[6] user @bransonreese tweeted, "Awakecels when it's bedtime," with the tweet accumulating over 710 retweets and 11,200 likes in two weeks (shown below, left). On December 24th, Twitter^[7] user @zuza_real made a tweet that gained over 1,200 retweets and 19,400 likes in ten days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Template

Search Interest

External References