TAKE A SNEAKY PEAKY
THE year is 1929, and the world has been thrown into turmoil by the financial crash. It’s a time of both opportunity and misfortune for the Peaky Blinders gang. And Tommy Shelby MP (Cillian Murphy) is approached by a charismatic politician with a bold vision for Britain.
There you have it: The setting for series five of Steven Knight’s crime family saga, which has been so successful it’s now moved from BBC2 to BBC1.
Coming 18 months since the last episode of Peaky Blinders aired, it would be a massive understatement to say that expectations are high.
At the end of the fourth series, the Shelby gang’s feud with New York Sicilian mafioso Luca Changretta came to blows, changing the family’s lives forever.
It also led to more PTSD for former soldier Tommy. So, how is the flat cap-wearing, chain-smoking gang boss different this series?
“In a way, he’s starting to thaw out, feel things again,” explains Brummie Steven, 60.
“The acts that he did of charity, but for a cynical reason, have gradually become real. He’s slowly discovering that he’s always been a good man doing bad things for a good reason. Maybe. But maybe not – you can look at it and say you can’t justify his actions.”
The writer, whose other credits include TV series Taboo, adds: “In series 5 he’s haunted by things he’s done in the past. But I always try to put into context that, whatever bad he’s done since WWI, during the war, at the request of commanding officers, 6-8,000 people were being killed per hour.
“That’s where the moral compass got destroyed and now, he’s basically trying to piece it together.”
Now that Tommy is a politician – last series he was elected as Labour MP for Birmingham South – we see him heading to Westminster.
There, he meets Oswald Mosley MP (played by Sam Claflin).
And as for what’s in store politically, Steven notes: “It’s quite bizarre how Peaky, whatever period I’m writing in, seems to have a spooky connection to what’s going on at the time.
“Never more so than with series 5 where, politically, it’s the early 1930s – there is nationalism, populism, racism sweeping across the Western world.”
Right from the start of Peaky Blinders, there have been several interesting female protagonists – including Ada, the only female Shelby sibling, played by Sophie Rundle, 31.
“They’re not strong female characters, they’re just female characters with all that natural strength,” the Gentleman Jack star, who was born in Newcastle-uponTyne, says passionately.
“They’re funny and they’re ambitious and they’re ballsy, and they’re rude and they’re fallible and you know it’s so much more than just being a strong female character – it’s about being multi-faceted.”
The last time we saw Michael (Tommy’s cousin and Polly’s son) he was on his way to America.
And at the start of series 5, he’s enjoying life in Detroit, when the Stock Market crashes.
“He inevitably comes back to Birmingham to see how he can help figure out this mess,” says the actor who plays him, 23-year-old Finn Cole.
Tommy wasn’t exactly very happy with Michael at the end of the last series. Asked if we will see the two men pitted against each other eventually, Finn says as this season goes on “we see more of Michael’s true colours”.
■ PEAKY Blinders continues on BBC1, Sunday at 9pm.