A couple of years ago I started to watch the Netflix show Peaky Blinders. Perhaps it wasn't the right time for me, or perhaps I wasn't prepared for what the show really is, but I never got past the second episode.
Recently, the Youtube algorithm started throwing clips from the show at me, and I became really intrigued. Intrigued enough to give it a new chance, and I'm glad I did. Just yesterday I finished season one and these are my thoughts. Keep in mind that the following only concerns Season 1.
Created by Steven Knight and directed by Otto Bathurst (ep. 1-3) and Tom Harper (ep. 4-6), Peaky Blinders stars Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Helen McCrory and many more. Central in the first season (at least) are also Sam Neill and Annabelle Wallis. These are all amazing actors, no question about that.
The Peaky Blinders are a gang in Birmingham and the story starts in 1919. The core of the Peaky Blinders is the Shelby clan, who's men have just returned from France and the horrors of The Great War. They are all suffering from PTSD in one way or another and tend to drown their suffering in copious amounts of whiskey and sometimes opium. The Blinders run a bookmaking business and the central theme of the season is their expansion and rise to greater power through schemes, bribes and violence. They are however not alone in this, and have to contend with other gangs as well as the police.
Peaky Blinders is a violent show but not excessively so, yes there is blood and killings, but the camera doesn't dwell on it. The absence of brutality would in fact seem weird so the show carries the violence on its shoulder but once it is over, it is over.
If the Shelby clan is central to the Peaky Blinders, Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is central to the family. He's not the oldest of the brothers, but he is the smartest and the most cunning. The others are tough men, but they don't have the foresight or strategic planning that Tommy does. He is not infallible though and makes mistakes throughout. This is a big part of the tension. If Tommy was never wrong and always made the right move, the show would fail. Perfection is after all pretty dull.
The show does an amazing job in creating the coal stained, whiskey soaked industrial world of early 20th century Birmingham. The camera work goes from solid to brilliant at times and the music is... modern. At first that took me by surprise to hear The White Stripes or Tom Waits, but the tracks you hear are chosen carefully and really work with what you are seeing. A strange choice to be sure, but one that works.
Facts:
There was a real gang called the Peaky Blinders, but the Shelby clan is fictional.
They smoke copious amounts of cigarettes but they were herbal non nicotine ones. Apparently they tasted awful.
No one could get a part on the show unless they could do a Brummie accent. Of course, characters who aren't local speak with other accents, but many big names auditioned and were turned down for this reason.
The Shelby men were so called Mud-kickers in the war. Soldiers who's job it was to dig narrow tunnels through to mud to get to the German lines which often led to cave-ins and brutal hand to hand combat with the German sappers.
So, do I recommend season 1? Oh yes. It is amazing, but very heavy to watch at times. This isn't a casual show that you can have on in the background. Everything is serious business, even when it isn't. With every episode being basically an hour long, I had to cap my viewing to two episodes at a time. But that said, Peaky Blinders is up there with the greats in television. At least so far. Once I peel off more seasons, I'll let you know what I think.
That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!
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