The series has ended – for now…
Peaky Blinders was an absolute cultural phenomenon. The series, which aired from 2013 – 2022, seriously captivated not only the country, but seemingly the entire world. Who knew that the lives of a bunch of gangsters from Birmingham in the 1920s could be so intriguing? Well, apart from the BBC and show writer Steven Knight, of course.
Although the sixth and final season aired in early 2022, fans still have plenty to look forward to with the Peaky Blinders film in production – still centred on the anti-heroic Shelby family.
With so many twists and turns throughout the gripping series, there’s a lot to unpack – so read on, as we’ve covered pretty much everything you could possibly need to know about the Peaky Blinders.
What is Peaky Blinders about?
Peaky Blinders is about a crime family from Birmingham called the Shelbys. Led by second-eldest brother, Peaky Blinders’ Tommy Shelby, the show so far has centred around him gaining power and notoriety not only in the UK, but overseas as well.
When the show was first announced, the official BBC synopsis read: ‘Peaky Blinders is an epic gangster family saga that begins in 1919 in the lawless slum neighborhoods of post-war Birmingham. Peaky Blinders is a dazzling picture of England which blows away preconceptions even though the characters and events are taken directly from the pages of history.
‘They now burst into life in a vibrant evocation of a hedonistic age, where the clothes are razor-sharp, the music fast and the dancing outrageous. The real Peaky Blinders were a scandal and this fiction will be the same…’
Who is in the Peaky Blinders cast?
Read all about the cast of Peaky Blinders here.
How many seasons of Peaky Blinders are there?
There are six series of Peaky Blinders now, with the newest season being the last. The first season aired in September 2013, season two came out in October 2014, series three aired in May 2016 and season four was released in November 2017. Season five aired on BBC One in August 2019, and season six in February 2022.
What happened in Peaky Blinders?
A WHOLE lot – too much to cover in a short paragraph. Check out our full recaps of each season below.
Read our recap of Peaky Blinders season 1.
Read our recap of Peaky Blinders season 2.
Read our recap of Peaky Blinders season 3.
Read our recap of Peaky Blinders season 4.
Read our recap of Peaky Blinders season 5.
Read our recap of Peaky Blinders season 6.
How can I watch it?
You can watch Peaky Blinders on BBC iPlayer and Netflix.
Peaky Blinders film: The Immortal Man
Turns out that nothing can keep Tommy Shelby out of our lives as the character – and the actor Cillian Murphy – will be returning to the fold in upcoming Netflix film The Immortal Man. Filming took place between September and December 2024, with no word yet about a release date.
Find out everything you need to know about the Peaky Blinders film, The Immortal Man.
Is there going to be a Peaky Blinders spin-off?
It’s not been announced by the BBC or Netflix yet, but show creator Steven Knight has confirmed he’s already got a “next generation” spin-off series ready to go. There are also another TWO spin-offs rumoured to be happening – here’s everything we know about the Peaky Blinders spin-offs!
What channel is Peaky Blinders on?
Peaky Blinders originally aired on BBC Two for the first four seasons, but after the success of the show, it’s now been moved to BBC One. Director of BBC Content Charlotte Moore explained the decision behind the move in a statement, saying: “Peaky Blinders is world class drama at the top of its game and the time has arrived for it to move to the UK’s biggest channel.
“Steven Knight’s epic storytelling is authentic and utterly compelling and I want to give it the chance to be enjoyed by an even broader audience on BBC One. We couldn’t have asked for a better response to series four and the impact it had with young audiences. This move will also give BBC Two more creative headroom to experiment with new drama.”
Steven himself added: “I am thrilled that our precious Peaky Blinders is moving to BBC One. Peaky is a show nurtured and grown by the audience who have found us through word of mouth. Hopefully this move will help us reach even more people.”
Who does the Peaky Blinders theme song?
The Peaky Blinders theme tune is actually ‘Red Right Hand’ by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, originally released in 1994. It’s also appeared in the Scream film franchise. Over the years the show was on, various artists covered the tune to appear in the credits including Patti Smith, Anna Calvi, PJ Harvey, a duet by Iggy Pop and Jarvis Cocker, Laura Marling and Arctic Monkeys.
Which awards has Peaky Blinders won?
Since its first series in 2013, Peaky Blinders has taken home a number of gongs – including a BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series and two TV Choice Awards for the fourth season, as well as two National Television Awards in 2020. Cillian Murphy dedicated his win to the show’s fans in a heartfelt video.
The show won a further two National Television Awards for series 6 – Best Returning Drama and Best Drama Performance for Cillian Murphy.
Who wrote the show?
The brains behind the world of Peaky Blinders would be none other than Steven Knight CBE. Having grown up in Birmingham, Steven is very well immersed in West Midlands life – and grew up hearing all about the real-life Brummy gang through stories from his parents, who themselves grew up in Small Heath (where the Shelby family are from).
Speaking in an interview for the book By Order of the Peaky Blinders: The Official Companion to the Hit TV Series, Steven gave an in-depth account of what inspired him to write the TV show, which is also revealed in an excerpt acquired by GQ.
He said: “Knowing how hard life was didn’t ever make the world inhabited by the Peaky Blinders any less appealing to me as a storyteller. I always felt that I’d found my own source of myth and poetry, which I should turn into a narrative that could be shared at some point. Most importantly, the story of these people had never been told.”
Steven has also created series SAS: Rogue Heroes, A Thousand Blows and Taboo, film Locke, the 2019 adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and was even a co-creator of UK institution Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? – it’s a pretty impressive CV.
Was Helen McCrory in Peaky Blinders season 6?
In early 2022, Cillian Murphy announced that Polly Gray would be ‘very present’ in season six, but that Helen wouldn’t appear due to COVID-19 halting filming before her passing.
Speaking to Empire, he said: “What I always feel sad about is that we were about to shoot and then the pandemic happened and we had to stop. If we had shot then, Helen would’ve been in the show, and that makes me feel sad.”
He added: “It’s a huge loss; it’s hard to comprehend it. Because she was the matriarch of the whole thing. As the character, but just also as her personality. But she’s still present in series 6.
“Steve has managed to keep her very, very present, which I think is a brilliant tribute to Steve and also to Helen. But we couldn’t quite fathom it all as we were making it, you know?”
Fans were touched when the first episode was dedicated to the actress, and her voice even appeared in the second episode. Aunt Polly could be heard giving a warning to her family, saying: “There will be a war in this family, and one of you will die”.
Fans all over the world were devastated to learn that actress Helen McCrory had sadly died at the age of 52 in April 2021. Well-known for her role as Polly Gray in Peaky Blinders, but with plenty of other impressive acting credits under her belt, her presence has been sorely missed in the acting world.
Her husband Damian Lewis said in a statement: ‘I’m heartbroken to announce that after an heroic battle with cancer, the beautiful and mighty woman that is Helen McCrory has died peacefully at home, surrounded by a wave of love from friends and family.
‘She died as she lived. Fearlessly. God we love her and know how lucky we are to have had her in our lives. She blazed so brightly. Go now, Little One, into the air, and thank you.’
Helen’s fellow Peaky Blinders co-stars also paid tribute to the actress on their social media accounts and in statements, honouring Helen and her incredible performance as Polly on the show.
Peaky Blinders music festival
There was an official Peaky Blinders festival to celebrate the premiere of the show’s fifth season! Although fans of the show put an unofficial festival together in 2018, it wasn’t approved by show bosses, and they decided to do one for real this year.
Show creator Steven Knight co-curated the festival, which took place in Digbeth on 14th and 15th September 2019, and featured live music from bands who have contributed to the soundtrack across five stages.
Peaky Blinders video game
Announced in April 2020, the Peaky Blinders video game entitled Mastermind was released in Summer 2020. You can play as each of the main characters who all have their own special abilities – Tommy (threatening), Arthur (brawling and door kicking), Polly (bribing and lock picking), John (arson and brawling), Ada (distraction) and Finn (sneaking and pickpocketing).
It’s available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and is a sequel to the TV series.
Are the Peaky Blinders real?
Yes – of sorts. The Peaky Blinders themselves were a real-life gang started in the early 1890s, led by a man named Thomas Gilbert who quite frequently changed his last name. However, it’s unclear whether the name Shelby had anything to do with it.
It’s also unclear how much of the show is based on reality, and how much is based on old stories – and how much of the old stories were real.
Creator Steven Knight said, “The reason it came to me was that my parents grew up in Birmingham in the 20s. My mum, when she was nine years old, was a bookie’s runner; they used to use kids to take bets because it was all illegal. My dad’s uncle was part of the Peaky Blinders. It was reluctantly delivered, but my family did give me little snapshots, of gypsies and horses and gang fights and guns, and immaculate suits.
“One of the first stories that inspired me was of my dad when he was a little kid, sent to deliver a message. There was a table, covered in money and guns, surrounded by blokes, beautifully dressed, drinking beer from jam jars. You didn’t buy glasses. You only spent money on clothes.”
Are the Peaky Blinders Irish?
According to reports online, the real-life Peaky Blinders had English, Irish and Gypsy roots. On the show, the Shelby family have Gypsy blood, with Aunt Polly hailing from a Gypsy Queen. They also occasionally speak Romany on the show to each other.
The Shelby patriarch, Arthur Shelby Sr., was played by Scottish actor Tommy Flanagan with an Irish accent, so it’s thought that they have Irish ancestry.
What does Peaky Blinders mean? The truth behind the hats
There’s some discrepancy over the real origin of the gang’s name. It is thought that the name comes from the gang members surreptitiously stitching razors into their flat caps, which could then be used as weapons. However, Gillette was the first company to introduce the first replaceable razors in the US in 1903, and they first became available in 1908 in the UK.
Historian and criminal expert John Douglas thinks this is the truth of the matter, and says that members of the gang with razors sewn into their hats would often headbutt their victims to potentially blind them. Alternatively, they might have slashed the foreheads of victims so that blood would pour into their eyes and cause temporary blindness.
But historian Carl Chinn reckons it’s more to do with the way that the gang dressed. He told the Birmingham Mail: “Fashionably dressed, they were named after the weapon they used in fights: the peaks of their flat caps into which had been sewn safety razors and which were slashed across the foreheads of their opponents, causing blood to pour down into their eyes and blind them.
“As for the razor blades? They were only beginning to come in from the 1890s and were a luxury item, much too expensive for the Peaky Blinders to have used. And any hard man would tell you it would be very difficult to get direction and power with a razor blade sewn into the soft part of a cap.”
The Peaky Blinders haircut
But the name of the Peaky Blinders may have actually come from different inspiration – still sitting on the top of the head, mind. Known generally as an “undercut”, the half-shaven ‘do was seen on pretty much every single male head throughout the latter 2010s thanks to the show!
Dr Kate Lister looked into the history behind the show on 2022 documentary, The Real Peaky Blinders, discovering that the style in the show is actually a less dramatic version of the real deal.
She said: “The original haircut was even more severe than it is in the TV show. This is super fashionable, it’s basically all shaven and cut very close to the head apart from a fringe they keep very long.
“So this is quite a severe and extreme version of the haircut but they were all sporting variations on this,” showing a photo of gang member George Williams who served life in prison for manslaughter.
She concluded: “They would fashion the front so they were peaked, and they would have the hat pulled down over one eye – hence ‘peaky blinder’” – and their very long fringe or quiff styled across their forehead to the other side.”
However, star of the show Cillian Murphy has another theory behind the Blinders’ coiffure, telling ShortList: “People like the undercut thing; people go to the barber and ask for a ‘peaky cut’.
“It’s crazy that people like it, it’s not grown on me in four years now. I normally keep my hair long. But do they realise it was styled this way to prevent lice? Tell them they have got the lice cut, see what they say then.”
Where is the Peaky Blinders pub?
In the show, the Peaky Blinders frequent their local pub The Garrison quite often, and have a great deal of influence over the owner, Harry Fenton. In series two, Tommy buys the pub for his brother Arthur, and from then on they own it.
It is based on a real-life pub called The Garrison Tavern in Small Heath, where the real Peaky Blinders are thought to have frequented.
Where was Peaky Blinders filmed?
Although Peaky Blinders is set predominantly in Birmingham, not much of the show is actually filmed there – find out about all the Peaky Blinders filming locations here. Tommy’s Uncle Charlie’s yard is filmed at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, as well as the Canal Street Bridge and other moments. You can read about them here.
The Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country museum is home to many of the filming locations for Peaky Blinders, and if you take a trip around the museum for a day you’ll be sure to recognise some past scenes of the show.
Pictured here is Uncle Charlie’s dockyard, home to many dodgy dealings between the Shelby brothers as well as allowing safe passage for whoever – or whatever – they need to get out of the Midlands. Read up on the museum here.
Powis Street, Liverpool
Much of the filming for Peaky Blinders was done in and around Liverpool, and different companies host many tours in the city so that fans of the show can see where the magic happens. This particular street was used for the Shelby family’s homes in the first season, named Watery Lane on the show.
Formby Beach, Liverpool
Many heartbroken viewers will spot that Formby Beach in Liverpool was the spot where Alfie Solomons (played by Tom Hardy) admitted his betrayal to Tommy, and basically forced Tommy into shooting him after confessing that he had cancer.
Port Sunlight, Wirral
Port Sunlight is a model village in the Wirral, Merseyside. Although the village and the homes within it were originally built for workers at the Lever Brothers Factory, it’s now a tourist attraction. Eagle-eyed Peaky fans will recognise the timbered housing as Aunt Polly’s home, which was “in” Sutton Coldfield in the show.
Arley Hall, Cheshire
Once Tommy became as ‘legit’ as he could in season three, he and Grace moved themselves into an incredible country house. Sadly, Grace was shot dead at a party they hosted there, but Tommy continued to live there with their son Charlie as well as their staff.
Arley Hall is situated in Northwich, Cheshire, and is often used as a wedding venue. Other shows to be filmed there include Coronation Street, Antiques Roadshow and Cold Feet.
General Manager Steve Hamilton said, “It’s been incredible to see the effort and attention to detail that goes into a production such as Peaky Blinders. There was a real buzz around Arley during the filming and it was great to work with the BBC on such a popular and critically acclaimed drama. The great thing now is that people will be able to visit us this summer and walk in the rooms where these amazing stars have filmed their scenes.”
Manchester Town Hall
The town hall in Manchester was apparently used as a building front in a scene in one of the first two seasons where Sam Neill’s character, Major Campbell, visits Winston Churchill, but Peaky Blinders’ Production Designer Grant Montgomery told i News that “the interiors were done in another location.” So cryptic!
Victoria Baths, Manchester
The Victoria Baths in Manchester were used for scenes in season two. After Polly’s son Michael returned, having been raised in the countryside by adoptive parents, the Shelby brothers took him along to a horse fair where Tommy bought a filly and also met May Carleton. Of course, in true Peaky style, the day ends in a fight, but the filming for the fair took place at the baths.
Montgomery told i: “I remember thinking Victoria Baths could give it a really good look. One of the baths had timber over it, so we put sawdust down on top.”
Bolton
The centre of Bolton was used for various scenes in the show, but Le Mans crescent in the North West town was used for shots to capture the Shelby brothers’ trip to London, and specifically the exterior of the Eden Club – the jazz den owned by Sabini, who becomes a nemesis to the family.
Montgomery told i: “We were thinking how to do London in the 1920s, and Bolton has that wonderful crescent. So I said, ‘Well, this is our London.’ And the exterior to the Eden Club was all done in Bolton.”
Brooke’s Mill, Huddersfield
Producers used Brooke’s Mill in Huddersfield as the location for the gypsy campsite, using traditional caravans and carts, as well as horses.
Leeds Town Hall
Many fans of the show were convinced that the scenes in which Campbell and Grace share information about the Shelby family in the art gallery were filmed at the Town Hall in Birmingham. However, the front was actually shot at the Town Hall in Leeds…
Newby Hall & Gardens, Ripon
…However, the scenes on the inside of the art gallery where Campbell and Grace surreptitiously pass notes to each other were filmed at the Newby Hall & Gardens in Ripon, North Yorkshire.
Keighley and Worth Valley Steam Railway
Most of the Peaky moments that take place on a train or at a station were shot on the Keighley and Worth Valley railway line. It’s a 5-mile long rail line that runs through a small part of West Yorkshire, and many will recognise Keighley as the station where Grace shot Major Campbell in season one.
Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, Yorkshire
Recognise it?
Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford
The shots in season one where Polly pays her respects at the cemetery and meets Freddie Thorne laying flowers for his mum is thought to have been shot in Bradford at the Undercliffe Cemetery.
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
If you’re looking for May Carleton’s mansion, featured in season two of Peaky Blinders, then Chatsworth House in Bakewell, Derbyshire, is the place! The stunning historic building is perfect for aristocratic horse-trainer May Carleton. Episodes shot at Chatsworth include huge stars of the show like Cillian Murphy (as Thomas Shelby), Charlotte Riley (as May Carleton) and Annabelle Wallis (as Grace Burgess).
Read more:
Here are all the new faces for Peaky Blinders season six
Sophie Rundle speaks out on ‘all guns blazing’ final season of Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders season five: A full recap of what happened
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