Babs, Blinders and Bribery

There’s street art and printed art work now, have you seen that? 
I have and I think it’s incredible. The street art is amazing. The people having tattoos done — that’s fantastic — you see trucks and vans with Tommy on it and all sorts.
Last night the second episode of season four of Peaky Blinders aired, and the city of Birmingham lost its collective mind. If you don't know the premise then, frankly, you're beyond help and there's certainly no getting you up to speed. For everyone else, here's an interview with the show's creator and all-round Brummie demigod, Steven Knight, in which we offered him a really rather sizeable bribe. In unrelated news, lend us £50,000?  

From one Brummie to another can we spend the duration of this interview calling you bab?
I'd be disappointed if you didn't.  

You’ve got that Adrien Brody bab in the new season of Peakys. Have you got A-listers knocking down your door to be in the show? 
The great thing is that we now hear from agents over in the States — we get a message that so-in-so loves the show and wants to be in it. Now, we don’t want to turn Peakys into Celebrity Spot The Star, but occasionally it works out. And in the case of Adrien, well, we were looking for an American adversary. I’ve always thought Adrien was fantastic and we knew he was willing, so that’s how it happened.

Adrien Brody plays Luca Changretta

How would I go about getting a walk-on part in season 5? 
Win an Oscar.

I’ve been nominated twice, but no dice. Is season 5 really the last one?
Well I know how the show is going to end. I know the sequence will involve the first air raid siren in Birmingham. But I don’t know yet, for definite, if that’ll be at the end of season 5, because this beast simply will not die. It’s getting bigger and bigger and we aren't saying, categorically, that season 5 is the final one.

And the bigger it gets the more a film beckons, surely? 
Yeah, well we’re trying to work out what the best sequence for these things is. We’ll definitely do season 5 next and then possibly do the film, and then possibly carry on. We have lots of options. As long as everybody’s loving it, why not?

Do you think any characters lend themselves to spin-offs? 
They do definitely, but whether that means we will do it or not, I don’t know. Normally I wouldn’t entertain the idea of a spin-off, but what seems to have happened is that a world and an outlook and a sensibility seems to have developed. Peakys seems to be an entire world now, so there really is room to explore it.

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby 

Last time we spoke, bab, you promised us you’d get the King Kong statue back to Brum.
I’m still working on it! I’m working on getting this [film] studio developed in the region…

How’s that going?
We’re getting there. It’s been a slow process but the slow bits are hopefully done. I’ve got a big meeting on Friday actually to talk about the next stage. And it’s looking very, very good. Now if we get the go-ahead, we will get him out of his predicament, and to the studio.

Where would you put him? Right out the front? 
Yeah, or why not right on top of it? Surrounded by planes!

Where’s the studio going to be? 
I can’t say I’m afraid.

What if we give you £50,000 in unmarked, non-sequential bills?
Then the studio will be in your back garden, sir! You can find out very easily where it'll be, but it can’t come from me. It’s in an obvious place.

New Peaky's prints available from Birmingham designer Ralph

What do you make of people grabbing the show and running with it. Have you tried the Peaky Blinders beer by Sadlers Ales, for example? 
I’ve tried that, it’s lovely. I was sent a case of it. It’s not just in Brum either. People are embracing the show all over the world. It’s bizarre but very flattering.

There’s street art and printed art work now, have you seen that? 
I have and I think it’s incredible. The street art is amazing. The people having tattoos done — that’s fantastic — you see trucks and vans with Tommy on it and all sorts.

Have you helped to make Birmingham cool? 
I think Birmingham is cool and if I’ve helped alert people to that fact then that’s no bad thing. Our collective problem has been that we’ve allowed other cities to bang their drum and give themselves an image and a place in the global concept of what England is. And in Brum, because we are quite self-deprecating — we don’t do it and we need to start. We need our place as the second city to be confirmed and we need to earn it. All we have to do is make more noise.

Right I better let you go. Thanks for promising me a role in season 5. 
Is that what happened?

Yeah, for sure. My people will call your people, bab. 
Okay.

Peaky Blinders, Wednesday, 9pm BBC2. Now available on 'Catch Up' with Seasons One and Two on Netflix    ​​​​​​