Reflections by Brad Balfour
Peaky Blinders
Creator/writer: Steven Knight
Executive Producer: Caryn Mandabach
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Finn Cole, Kate Phillips, Natasha O’Keeffe, Aidan Gillen, Jack Rowan, Charlie Murphy, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Harry Kirton, Packy Lee, Ned Dennehy, Ian Peck, Benjamin Zephaniah
In this age of the binge — especially throughout this last year — there were lots of solid offerings. I tried the murder mystery series starring Bryan Cranston and a few others on Netflix etc. But once I discovered The British-birthed Peaky Blinders I found a series that had me in such rapt attention that I settled in to watch it as often as I could.
Based in Birmingham, England’s second largest city (after London), its five seasons detail the emergence and evolution of a poor Irish Traveler family living in the dank ghetto of Small Heath. A powerful Mafia-like organization coalesces thanks to Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy), second son of the clan. He and his brothers have returned from fighting in WW1, affected in various ways by PTSD.
Over its multiple episodes, Tommy steadfastly, with steely determination, directs the course of his clan, taking them from simple criminal activities such as petty gambling, protection rackets and small-time smuggling into being an economic and political powerhouse, a force not only in central England but throughout the country as a whole. Tommy becomes a politician elected to be in the English Parliament who engages with such historical figures as Oswald Mosley — founder of the British Union of Fascists at the beginning of the 1930s.
Here was a criminal gang that could eviscerate its opposition and then show touches of humanity and civility. Rife with betrayal and brutality, the clan and the series never becomes laden with too-much cruelty or meaningless meanness (depending on what you might consider too much). Maybe that’s thanks to having the charming, Cork-born Murphy as its lead. As the main man, head honcho and brilliant schemer, he never seems too cold or ruthless, and when he does veer too much that way, his family members, various associates and his own internal rudder bring him back on track.
Created by Steven Knight, the beloved drama first aired on BBC Two eight years ago before making the move to BBC One in 2019 with audiences of over 7M. Outside the UK, it airs on Netflix and had initially run from 2013 to 2019. Now that the pandemic seems to be lightening up, a sixth season has been announced and talk of a movie has commenced. The news as to these developments keep flowing online and in the media trades.
As if it were an analogue to Boardwalk Empire, or, more to my liking, the anti Downton Abbey, the political and social concerns that emerged between those two wars — which are very much a part of “Peaky Blinders” — remain relevant in today’s world. As the series illustrated, the conditions that allowed the Shelby family to rise up also enlightened audiences about certain historical nuances that they may never have known about. And, it also showed how universal are the primal urges which drive the series’ characters, no matter what the era was or the location that it takes place in.