Peter Creedy

Peter Creedy is head of the Norsefire secret police agency known as the Finger. He and his agents, known as "Fingermen," are charged with apprehending "V," the masked vigilante whose high-profile acts of terrorism have undermined Norsefire's control of England. He is a major antagonist in the novel and comic and the main antagonist of the film.

Creedy comes to power after the death of Derek Almond. Unlike Adam Sutler, who genuinely believes in fascism, Creedy is a cold-blooded opportunist whose only goal is absolute power. A coarse, petty man, he is held in contempt by sophisticates like Helen Heyer and it is strongly suggested that senior officers in the police force have little respect for him. Eric Finch's right-hand man Dominic Stone coolly rebuffs his offer of 'closer co-operation' in spite of his implied threat that anyone who isn't on his side will regret it later.

However, it also becomes clear that Creedy is somewhat incompetent. He and his men let V escape from the NTV broadcasting centre after the 'Guy Fawkes' video is broadcast, and he lets Rose Almond through the police cordon during Susan's last public appearance, not suspecting that she will assassinate him. Nevertheless he and his forces subsequently take total control of London. However, his term as the "emergency commander" is short-lived, as his chief of staff, a Scottish gangster named Alistair Harper, turns on him after being given a substantial bribe by the manipulative Helen Heyer. Harper and his men grab Creedy and hack him to death with a razor.

Film
In the movie version he is played by Tim Pigott-Smith.

Creedy serves the ruling Norsefire party as head of the Fingermen, the security police who carry out the secret kidnapping, detention and mass murder of anyone who criticizes Norsefire or does not fit its racist standards of "purity". Although as Adam Sutler is more prominent as the Chancellor, the real power of the Norsefire lies within Creedy, so the latter serves as the main antagonist of the film. His complete ruthlessness is shown, and is evolved from a petty criminal to an ice-cold sociopath; V describes him as "a man seemingly without a conscience, for whom the ends always justify the means" and the mastermind behind the bio-engineered plague, which is later blamed on terrorists and used to terrorize the public into giving Norsefire total control. In a meeting with Inspector Eric Finch, a disguised V suggests that it was Creedy's idea to use the virus not on "an enemy of the country, but rather the country itself."

The Finger's trademark is the black bags they put over the captives' heads. One such instance is when Chancellor Sutler orders variety show host Gordon Deitrich arrested for mocking Sutler on his show; Creedy personally shows up at Deitrich's home and beats him with a nightstick, splitting open his face. Dietrich is then taken away and executed for possessing forbidden material (the Finger's finding a copy of the banned Quran hidden in his house sealed his fate).

Later Creedy has fallen out of favor with Sutler because of his failure to stop V's activities and the public actions resulting from them. One night while tending his flowers in his countryside home, Creedy is confronted by V, who offers him to turn himself over in exchange for Sutler. After facing further criticism from Sutler, Creedy accepts the offer.

V and Creedy meet in an abandoned tube station, and Creedy personally shoots the hated dictator in front of V. But when V refuses to take off his mask, Creedy says that if he doesn't, he and his Fingermen will kill him. V says that everyone in the room will be dead and he will also kill Creedy before he has time to reload his revolver. Creedy, thinking that's impossible, orders the Fingermen to open fire but fail to take him down. A mortally wounded V cuts down all of Creedy's Fingermen. Fulfilling his promise that Creedy would die with his hands around his neck before he could reload, the masked vigilante corners Creedy and manually snaps his neck, killing him for good.

His body is destroyed after the train explodes.