Peaky Blinders

1. The show's title refers to the alleged gang practice of sewing razor blades into the peaks of their flat caps — though historians have debated whether this was a real Birmingham gang tactic or a later legend. Steven Knight based the series on stories his parents told him about their own family's involvement with Birmingham gang culture in the early twentieth century.

2. Cillian Murphy worked with dialect coaches for months to master the distinctive Birmingham accent, immersing himself in the region's history and culture to portray Tommy Shelby authentically. Murphy, born and raised in Cork, Ireland, initially struggled with the Brummie cadence and spent considerable time in Birmingham before filming began.

3. Tom Hardy was originally cast for a single episode as Alfie Solomons, the eccentric Jewish gangster based in Camden, but his performance was so electrifying that creator Steven Knight kept writing him back into the story across multiple seasons. Hardy's improvisational energy and intense chemistry with Murphy made Alfie one of the show's most beloved characters despite his limited screen time.

4. When actress Helen McCrory, who played the indispensable Polly Gray, passed away from cancer in April 2021, Steven Knight made the decision to write her character's death into the show rather than recast the role. McCrory's Polly was regarded as the moral and emotional spine of the Shelby family, and her loss was felt deeply by the cast and crew throughout the final season's production.

5. The show's anachronistic soundtrack — featuring Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, PJ Harvey, and Jack White — was a deliberate creative choice by Steven Knight to give the series a mythological, timeless quality rather than period authenticity. The approach was controversial at first but has since been widely credited with defining the show's distinctive atmosphere.

6. Despite being set entirely in Birmingham, most of the exterior filming took place in Manchester, Liverpool, and the Black Country region, because modern Birmingham's skyline and architecture no longer resembles its post-war industrial past. The production design team worked to recreate the grimy, smoke-filled industrial landscape of 1920s Small Heath using existing Victorian-era industrial locations across the Midlands and the North.

7. The distinctive undercut hairstyle worn by Tommy Shelby and his brothers became a global fashion phenomenon, with barbershops around the world reporting massive increases in requests for the 'Peaky Blinder cut' following each new season. Fashion designers including Paul Smith cited the show's costume design as an influence, and a dedicated Peaky Blinders clothing line was launched to meet demand.