Peaky Blinders set to feature Glasgow gangs

Glasgow’s infamous razor gangs are to feature in the next series of BBC hit drama Peaky Blinders, its creator has revealed.

Writer Steven Knight said Glaswegian hardmen will be starring alongside the Shelby clan in the fifth series of the crime saga.

He described the gangs in the city as the “hardest” in Britain at the time the drama is set during the 1920s and 1930s and is currently researching their history.

The award-winning BBC2 show follows the rise to power of Birmingham gangster Tommy Shelby (played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy), who became an MP at the end of the last series.

Knight, 58, said: “The truth is that in the late Twenties and Thirties really the hardest gangs were in Glasgow. There was a very definite structure to the gangs so I have been delving into the history of that.

“They become involved through a bit of invention, some creativity. We are going to start the series in 1929 which was a time of big economic upheaval and the gateway to the Thirties where we all know what happened.

“It’s a rich vein to be mining.”