The enduring appeal of Peaky Blinders

What’s the next step for a macho gangland drama that’s already built a fanbase in some 183 countries worldwide? That’s right: a collaboration with one of the highest regarded companies in UK contemporary dance. When it opens in September at Birmingham’s Hippodrome theatre, The Redemption of Thomas Shelby – a 20-strong dance production from the South Bank’s Rambert Dance Company – will mark yet another cultural milestone for Peaky Blinders: the BBC’s historic drama about a gang of Brummie ruffians who ran parts of the city between the two world wars.

Since it premiered back in 2013, Peaky Blinders has not only gone to conquer Netflix (becoming, according to one analysis, the most widely streamed show of the pre-Squid Game era) but also to launch a full-on subculture. As well as its own fashion label, the show has also inspired an immersive theatre festival, a string of knock-off pubs, a popular video game, and – come this autumn – a full-length dance show telling the backstory of its lead character.

The elevation of Peaky Blinders to a cultural phenomenon might come as surprise to those who found themselves underwhelmed by the show’s initial BBC outings – fashionable as it was back then to knock the early seasons for their gratuitous scrapping, anachronistic pub rock soundtrack, and non-existent grasp of the Brummie accent.