Today (September 12, 2023) marks 10 years since the first episode of Peaky Blinders aired on the BBC. Created by writer Steven Knight, the iconic drama series inspired by Birmingham has become a household name across the world.
After huge success in the UK, the show based on the real life Birmingham gang in post-World War One, became a hit in the US and worldwide after it landed on Netflix.
The show aired for the final time in 2022, with the series 6 finale bringing nearly a decade of Peaky Blinders to an end on television. Fortunately, that’s not the end of the brand. A Peaky Blinders movie is due to go into production some time this year.
The Peaky Blinders dance show - Rambert Dance’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby - has also announced a number of new theatre shows to celebrate the 10th anniversary. Written by series creator Knight, Rambert’s Dance began life last September at Birmingham Hippodrome and is set to tour the UK once again in 2024.
The series certainly had a huge impact on British television, becoming a cultural phenomenon in the UK. The show even inspired three Peaky Blinders themed pubs, a barber shops and bought flat caps back into fashion.
Quite incredible for what was a show about a relatively unknown gang based in Small Heath in the 1920s.
To celebrate 10 years since the show first hit our screens, we’ve taken a look back at 10 of the very best moments to come from the Peaky Blinders franchise. Let’s take a look:
1. Cillian attends the season 2 premiere in Birmingham
The Oppenheimer star is tipped for an Oscar for his performance in Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster. He has starred in some huge films, but Peaky Blinders heavily contributed to the Irishman becoming one of the world’s best known actors. Cillian even attended the Series 2 premiere in 2014, which was held at Cineworld in Birmingham on Broad street. You can see an interview with Cillian from that premiere at the top of this story
2. Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons
Tom Hardy is one of the UK’s best actors and has starred in a number of Hollywood blockbusters, including the Batman series with Cillian Murphy. He made regular cameos throughout the series as Alfie Solomons, the leader of the Camden Town gang, and he had great chemistry with Murphy. Photo: Matt Squire
3. The brilliant ‘No fighting!’ scene
Knight’s show even had some brilliant comedic moments. One of the funniest moments came in series 3, episode 1, where Tommy, in the back of a restaurants demands to his gang members that none of them get involved in any fighting, before proceeding to push over a waiter who slightly bumps into him Photo: BBC iplayer
4. Peaky Blinders Festival in Digbeth
In September 2019, a two-day Legitimate Peaky Blinders festival took place in Digbeth. People dressed in Peaky Blinders inspired clothes and watched great performances from Primal Scream, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, Anna Calvi and Liam Gallagher Photo: Press Association Images