76 EMMY
“IstartedseeingitinHoxtoninLondon,inWilliams-
burginNewYork,”saysHelenMcCrory,whoplaysPolly,
thematriarchofthePeakys,a Birminghamgangsterclan.“Youwerejustsur-
roundedbyguyswiththesehaircuts.”
Thencamethethemedparties,thebars,theweddings.Awholeindustry
ofPeaky-phernaliafollowed,includingaclothinglinefullofsharpthree-
piecewoolsuits,tiepinsandgrandpacollars.Thenit wentfurther.
“PeoplehavefullbacktattoosofTommyShelby,”CillianMurphysays.
TheIrishactor,whoplaystheheadoftheShelbyfamily,hasfoundhisown
faceinscribedininkonthebacksofzealousfans.“Personally,I wouldjustgo
outandbuytheDVDboxset,buteachtotheirown.”
PeakyBlindersisthelittleBritishshowthat’sgonebig.Thestoryofa
familyofgangstersbetweentheworldwarshasbecomeifnotthemost
watched,thencertainlyoneofthemostadmiredshowsontheplanet.
Peaky’sreachisbroad:itisSnoopDogg’sfavoriteshow,butit’salso
RollingStoneRonnieWood’s.AdrienBrodylikeditsomuchhesignedup
toappearinthefourthseasonasaNewYorkhoodlumcometoEngland
tosettleavendetta.TomHardy,anotherHollywoodstar,wasdelightedto
takearecurringroleinthesecondseasonofwhatwasthenalittle-known
production.Hehasnowappearedinthreeseasonsoftheshow.JuliaRoberts,
anothercommittedfan,saystheshowhelpedhertoreconsidertelevision,
whichledhertostarinAmazon’sHomecoming.
“IrememberthefirsttimeI watchedPeakyBlindersI waslike,‘Are
you kidding me?’ It was so masterful,”sherecalls.“Thecostumes,the
performances, the locations.... Not beinganavidTVwatcher,thatwasa huge
turning point in my feelings about televisionandwhatit cando.”eoplewholikePeakyreallylikeit.Whatstartedoutasalow-
budgetBBCshowairingonTuesdaynightshas,overfourseasons
becomea topperformeronNetflix,whichwilllaunchseasonfive
inSeptember.Butoverall,theshowhasslippedinundertheradar
—andthat’sexactlyhowthecastlikesit.
“I’vealwaysbeen heartenedbythefactthatitwasso
incremental,”Murphy says of theshow’sgrowth.“It wasn’t
instantlya hit,anditwasneverforceddownpeople’sthroats.Itwasbecause
ofpeopletalkingtoeachotherandsharinganddressingupandhaving
eventsanddoingitallofftheirownbatthatitbecamebig.It’slovelywhenit
happensthatway,becauseit hasbeenthefansthathavemadeit.”
Therehavebeen historicalgangsterepicsontelevisionbefore,but
nothingquitelikePeakyBlinders. Itisuniqueformanyreasons,fromthetitle
(itcomesfromtherazorbladesthatgangmembersusedtosewintothe
peaksoftheircaps),totheround-mouthedBrummie(Birmingham)accents,
tothesettingandthelookoftheproduction.
“Iremembergettingthefirsttwoscripts,”Murphysays,speakingin
London.“Ilookedatthecoverpageandthought,‘Idon’tunderstandthe
title,I don’tknowwhatthatmeans.’ThenI readthem,andtheywerejust
astonishinglygood—reallyoriginal,reallyunpredictable,withanamazing
protagonist.”
Gobackandwatchthosefirstfewepisodes,andwhat’smoststriking
aboutPeakyBlindersis its confidence. From the opening notes of the
title music (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ 1994 single “Red Right Hand”) to
Tommy Shelby’s casual brutality, it simply swaggered onto the screen like a
gunslinger coming to take over a town.
“It goes back to where this series came from,” creator–
executive producer Steven Knight says. When he was a child
growing up in Birmingham, his parents told him tales of the
city streets between the wars. “They first heard these stories
when they were kids, so they mythologized the Garrison Pub,
the horses on the streets, the whole thing. Then when they told
me, I was a kid and I double-mythologized it. When it came to
making the show, I made the decision at the very beginning to
keep that mythology.”
He likens his depiction of interwar Birmingham to the
classic westerns of John Ford and Sergio Leone. “It’s the same
thing that the Americans do with the West — they don’t feel
any shame about it. So I’ve tried to do Birmingham in the ’20s
and ’30s like a western. You can mythologize, and you can have
the gunslingers, and the horses are beautiful — all of that
mythology.”
When Peaky Blinders was first presented to McCrory, she
was told it was a period piece set on the streets of Birmingham,
and that she would play a character called Aunt Polly.
“I said, ‘No I’m not.’ I thought I’d be standing there with awasthe haircuts that people noticed first: shaved
atthe sides and long on top, with the hair concealed
beneath a thick flatcap.Theyturnedupinhipster
enclaves, and thentheystartedtospread.This was
thebeginning of thePeaky Blinderseffect.Creator–executive producer Steven Knight and Murphy