Peaky Blinders (TV Series) Review

Peaky Blinders, created by Steven Knight, is a crime drama set in 1919 post-war Birmingham, England. The show centres on Thomas Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy), the notoriously cunning leader of historical gang, the Peaky Blinders (named after the razor blades they keep hidden in their caps), and his struggle to protect his family, and build an empire in the streets after the fallout of the First World War. Based on a true story, the show starts with Thomas Shelby finding a crate of lost machine guns heavily sought after by the government, he decides to hide them and use them as leverage which brings him in contact with Chief Inspector Chester Campbell (played by Sam Neil), a ruthless detective from Ireland who’s methods are as unorthodox and violent as the criminals. Watching Thomas Shelby climb the criminal underworld ladder is a fantastic experience, it’s intense, engaging and exciting, I love this show!

Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby

Peaky Blinders is rich with interesting and conflicted characters, everyone is well written, the dialogue is sharp, and every performance is cutting edge. Cillian Murphy is perfect as the lead, his portrayal of criminal mastermind Thomas Shelby is perfect, you believe in this character and you sympathise with him, you understand his pain and you’re rooting for him. Other notable performances come from Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby, the eldest brother of the Shelby’s, emotionally unstable and desperately volatile; this was a very powerful performance, Helen McCrory was great as Polly Gray, the head strong mother figure of the family, there are some pretty strong females here along with Annabelle Wallis as Grace Burgess. I loved Charlie Creed-Miles as Billy Kimber, this foul mouthed cockney maniac is one of my favourite characters, I love the intensely dangerous atmosphere around him and he just cracks me up, Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons was great as well, carrying that same intensity with a slightly comedic tone under it.

Helen McCrory as Polly Gray

The set designers did a great job making this look and feel authentic; they capture the feeling of a suffering industrial city perfectly, and it feels very bleak and depressing, but visually beautiful with excellent camera work, the costume designers, make-up, everyone involved with the look of Peaky Blinders hit the nail on the head, it looks perfect. They also use an interesting selection of songs throughout each season which help capture some amazing moments, I liked their choice to use more modern music in the show, I loved the authenticity of the music used in Boardwalk Empire, but none of those songs would make it onto my iPod, Jack White, Love is Blindness, PJ Harvey, When Under Ether and Ane Brun, All My Tears and a few others could be though, which brings me onto the comparisons made with Boardwalk Empire, yes, they’re very similar in that they’re both about an intelligent, ambitious criminal king pin with political ties set during the same time in history, it’s an interesting time, the beginning of society as we know it, our violent and muddy history. These two shows go hand in hand; I suggest you watch them together, they’re both brilliant.

Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby

My only complaint is that there are only six episodes in each seasons, and so far only two seasons out! There is a third season confirmed but why can’t British shows match the standard length of the American seasons we've gotten used to, they’re always so short, I guess you could say short and sweet but I’d just point to The Sopranos or any of the long running American shows as proof that quality and quantity aren't mutually exclusive, there’s an open market here, everyone would get paid, it just needs to be promoted right, stop watching the fucking X Factor and start supporting quality television people! This is an important show, in that, from what I've seen, it’s the first English TV series to really capture that crime drama genre as well as America has, the UK needs to put more funding into shows like this, I'm glad Netflix has caught onto it though, Peaky Blinders along with Top Boy are, in my opinion, pioneers of British television, we’re great at music and we’re great at comedy, but these efforts prove that we’re good at gritty HBO-style crime dramas as well without having to carry that fucking tone of filthy depression, we’re good at it, but no one wants to see that, films like ill Manors, where you just wanna take a shower afterwards and wipe Plan B’s spit off your face, it’s nothing like that, it’s actually enjoyable to watch. More of this please!

Charlie Creed-Miles as Billy Kimber
Peaky Blinders is a great show, the writing is fantastic, the cinematography is beautiful and the performances are superb, every character is well realised and the story is unpredictable, you’re on this journey with Thomas Shelby, but you don’t know what his plan is, or whether or not you can even trust him which keeps you consistently on the edge of your seat, trying to guess what’s gonna happen next, but he’s always one step ahead of you, and it’s a thrilling ride from start to finish, I can’t wait for season 3! In my opinion this is a staple in British television, the cross over point where we’ll likely (hopefully!) start to see an increase in the quality of our TV shows, especially with the success of Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, fringe television has moved into the mainstream, which is gonna force all the cable companies to follow suit and I'm hoping that leads to more funding from companies in the UK like the BBC into projects like this! If you loved Boardwalk Empire you’re gonna love Peaky Blinders too, it’s short, but it is most definitely sweet.

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