Netflix Gangster Crime Series Is Bloody And Brilliant With A-List Star’s Best Role

I came to Peaky Blinders really late. My whole family had watched the show and raved about it, and I was still a holdover, forever a rebel to new shows and books. “You can’t make me love it!”

But I rewatched The Dark Knight with my daughter one Sunday, and remembered how much I loved Cillian Murphy. Plus, I knew Tom Hardy made occasional appearances in the series, and I am a superfan. 

So I convinced my husband to watch Peaky Blinders with me each night after the kids went to bed. And believe me, you must wait until the kids go to bed.

This series is dark, brutal, ugly, violent, and yet so lovely in so many interesting ways. Much like Sons of Anarchy, the creator of the show, Steven Knight, seems to be telling us that there will be, there can be, no happy ending for street gangsters like the Peaky Blinders. But we can’t help but hope for it anyway. 

When Peaky Blinders opens, we meet Tommy Shelby (Murphy) and his brothers, Arthur, who is older, Johnny, who is younger than Tommy, and Finn, the youngest brother, who is still in his early teen years.

Tommy also has a sister close to his age, Ada, and an aunt, Polly (the late Helen McCrory). This family of mixed Irish and Romani descent, lives in Birmingham, England, in 1919, just after the First World War has ended. 

Tommy runs a local street gang in this ghetto of sorts, called the Peaky Blinders. They run their small operation from a local bar, and they have the respect and admiration of their neighbors, who they work to protect.

Tommy, though not the oldest of the Shelby clan, is the leader of the gang, due largely to his cunning mind and ambition. He has his eyes set on growing the fortune of the family, which is currently rooted in taking illegal gambling bets. 

When a new constable, Major Chester Campbell (Sam Neill) moves in on the authority of Winston Churchilll, things get difficult for the Peaky Blinders.

Campbell sends his deputy, a beautiful young Irish woman, Grace, undercover to spy on Tommy in order to catch him committing crimes red-handed. Unfortunately for Campbell, Grace finds herself falling in love with Tommy, and Tommy loves her right back. 

This first season is one long standoff between Campbell and Tommy, and it descends into such madness at times that you almost have to look away.

The director does a great job of pulling you into the gutters and sewers of these streets and then disgusting you with the vile acts perpetrated there, mostly by the people who are supposed to be the good guys. 

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Except that, in Peaky Blinders, there are no real “good guys.” No one’s hands are clean. And as Tommy rises through the ranks of society, bringing his gang with him, he must make even more dangerous decisions that put not only his own life, but the lives of everyone he loves at risk.

Still, the series does a great job of making the point that the “good guys” are no better than our beloved Peaky Blinders. 

Cillian Murphy is at his absolute best for all six seasons of Peaky Blinders, and the supporting cast, including guest appearances by everyone from Adrian Brody to Anya Taylor-Joy, do a wonderful job of making this story come alive and feel beyond real. It is worth catching this show on Netflix when you get the chance. Just be prepared to cover your eyes if you get queasy.