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:
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.
9. Putting the Brummie accent on the world stage
The Birmingham accent has come in for a lot of stick over the years - unfairly in our opinion. But the likes of Cillian Murphy and Helen McCrory have helped to bring the Brummie dialect to the world stage, with people from far and wide often attempting to replicate the Birmingham accentsthanks to the hit show | BBC
10. Luca Changretta’s fate
Another brilliant and tense episode is the season 4 finale. After a series of bloody battles and shocking events, it is safe to say that many viewers were eager to tune in to the season finale of series four. In the episode, events escalate during the fight between Goliath and Bonnie Gold. As Audrey Changretta, the mother of the main antagonist in series 4 Luca Changretta (Adrien Brody) appears at a funeral, waving a white flag, she proposes to declare the vendetta between her family and the Shelbys settled. | PB
11. The Peaky Blinders fashion
Cillian Murphy and co even managed to bring flat caps and 1920s inspired waistcoats back into fashion. Since the show’s rise to fame, BBC’s smartly dressed gangsters helped to inspire a resurgence of smart attire across the country. The short back and sides ‘Peaky haircut’ has also come rather popular. Many Birmingham City fans also wear flat caps when attending games | Getty Images
12. Filming at Black Country museum
Although the show is set in Birmingham, it has a number of different filming locations. Most of the filming was in northern England, mainly Leeds and Liverpool. Some of the show has been shot at the Black Country museum. Charlie Strong’s yard and Ada and Freddie’s secret meeting place were all shot at the museum. The museum also now hosts Peaky Blinders themed nights so fans of the show can dress up and get a taste of the West Midlands in the 1920s | SWNS