A stylish, propulsive gangster saga with strong atmosphere, memorable performances, and a steadily escalating power fantasy. It’s at its best when it leans into family politics, class resentment, and postwar trauma; later seasons become more operatic and sometimes repetitive, but the core remains compelling.
Peaky Blinders
Where to watch: Buy
TV Show · Drama · Crime
Thu
Created by: Steven Knight
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle
Overview
A gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham, England and centered on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, who means to move up in the world.
Created by
Steven Knight
Cast
Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Natasha O'Keeffe
Curator Review
Verdict
A stylish, propulsive gangster saga with strong atmosphere, memorable performances, and a steadily escalating power fantasy. It’s at its best when it leans into family politics, class resentment, and postwar trauma; later seasons become more operatic and sometimes repetitive, but the core remains compelling.
Best for
crime dramas with prestige production values
antihero stories with a strong visual identity
period pieces with political and family intrigue
bingeable, high-stakes serialized TV
Skip if
you want tightly contained storytelling with little melodrama
you dislike morally gray antiheroes
you prefer realistic crime stories over heightened, mythic ones
you’re looking for a show that stays equally sharp in every season
Overview
Peaky Blinders is one of the defining prestige crime dramas of the 2010s: moody, muscular, and built around a central performance that turns Tommy Shelby into a near-mythic figure. Its first few seasons are especially strong, balancing gang warfare, labor politics, family loyalty, and the aftermath of World War I with a sharp sense of place and style.
Worth noting
The show’s biggest asset is its atmosphere. The music, costumes, and production design give it a modern pulse without losing the grit of its era, and the ensemble around Tommy keeps the family dynamic lively even when the plot becomes more grandiose. It’s also very bingeable; each season tends to end on a forceful note, which makes it easy to keep going.
Bottom line
That said, the series does become more operatic as it goes on. Some viewers will love the larger-than-life escalation, while others may feel the writing starts to repeat certain power-struggle rhythms. Still, the final stretch keeps enough momentum and emotional payoff to make the full run worthwhile, especially if you’re in for the style, the swagger, and the slow-burn rise of the Shelby empire.
Themes
organized crime, family loyalty, power and ambition, postwar trauma, class conflict, political corruption, masculinity, revenge
Topics
prestige drama, period crime, antihero, gangster saga, 1920s, atmospheric, stylized violence, family dynasty, political intrigue, bingeable