Peaky Blinders still has a future, says show’s creator

PEAKY BLINDERS will continue into the 1950s with a spin-off series following the Shelby family and other characters, its creator has said.

The show, about a criminal gang operating in Birmingham in the early part of the 20th century, launched on the BBC in 2013. Its sixth and final series was broadcast earlier this year, but Steven Knight, the show’s creator, said there were plans for more stories.

Knight said he would not write the shows himself, but would give his blessing to other writers.

“It won’t be me – it would be me launching possible new stories into the 1950s, and then I would hand over the baton of writing and creating the thing to other people. But if there is an appetite, then it will continue,” Knight told the BBC.

He was speaking at the premiere of a new dance production, The Redemption of Thomas Shelby, at the Birmingham Hippodrome. The show picks up the story of the Peaky Blinders at the end of the First World War, following Tommy Shelby and Grace Burgess through their love affair.

Its soundtrack features songs from the television series and music from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Radiohead and others. The show will move to London’s Troubadour Wembley Park venue from Oct 12 to Nov 6 before embarking on a UK tour in 2023.

Knight adapted his story for the stage production, which has very little dialogue. “What has surprised me is the ability to express emotion in a second,” he said.

Viewers continue to discover the television show via Netflix, and Knight previously told The New York Times that interest in the show “seems to be going up and not down”.