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Steven Knight's crime drama series Peaky Blinders is based on a real-life gang notorious for their illegal activities in 1880s Birmingham.
While Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby and his gang are shown operating in the 1920s, Knight's historical drama aptly captures the historical background of Britain during that time.
Starting from WWI in 1919, the series follows the most tumultuous period in Britain's history and concludes in 1934, when fascism was at its peak.
In Peaky Blinders, many storylines and almost all the Shelbys are fictional (including Tommy), but each season of the show is set two years apart, and the economic, political, and social unrest of the period can be felt in the Shelby dealings.
More on this in our story.
Peaky Blinders Season 1 begins at the end of World War I
Steven Knight not only migrated his gangster crime series from London to Birmingham, but also chose a tumultuous period to base his story in. Tommy and the other men have just come back from France, and the general pessimism of World War I (1919) can be felt in the atmosphere when Peaky Blinders starts.
From the social revolution highlighted through characters like Freddie Throne to the war-induced PTSD highlighted through Danny Whizz-bang, Season 1 is rooted in the political and economic unrest of the 1920s. Many of Tommy Shelby's actions are also the consequences of his time.
Exploring the historical timeline of Peaky Blinders
Season 2 (1921)
After the initial year, Peaky Blinders Season 2 begins in 1921, when the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended Ireland’s War of Independence but created a split with the IRA. The repercussions of this split can be felt as Tommy is caught within the IRA, when Campbell orders him to carry out an execution on behalf of the Crown.
In addition, Season 2 also captured the Jazz Age and the Prohibition Era of America, evident in Sabini's nightclubs and Alfie Solomon's illegal booze business.
Season 3 (1923)
Peaky Blinders Season 3 moves to the year 1923, when the first-ever Labour government was elected. This was also the time when the ultra-conservative organizations were on the rise and feared the spread of communism.
Tommy and the Shelbys get entangled with one such organization, the Economic League, led by Father Hughes, who blackmails Tommy to work for him. The season proved fatal for Grace, with Arthur, John, Michael, and Aunt Polly arrested.
Season 4 (1926)
This was the time when America clashed with England, which is depicted with the Peaky Blinders clash with American-Italian mafia Luca Changretta, which also led to John Shelby's tragic death.
In addition, Season 4 also featured a real-life communist and the first woman union leader, Jessie Eden. While the show mostly misrepresented Eden's character, this was the time when she arranged for many labour strikes, demanding equal rights and pay for women workers.
The strike organized by Eden is even joined by Aunt Polly and other factory workers, which is a real historical event.
Season 5 (1929)
The most important period in Britain's history where the Roaring Twenties came to a halt with the Wall Street crash of 1929. Tommy Shelby now drives a Bentley and has entered politics as the MP party leader, where he meets Oswald Mosley (another real-life figure).
Mosley is a burgeoning fascist who would go head-on and fight against Tommy's ideologies in the show's final season.
Season 6 (1933)
The final season of Knight's crime series explores the early 1930s, particularly 1933 and 1934, where the Prohibition repeal posed Tommy Shelby with a new opportunity, the opium trade.
Tommy's efforts to secure an opium distribution deal in Boston parallel the opportunities presented in 1934 in the post-Prohibition society.
In addition, this was also the time when fascism and nationalism were at their rise, as evident in Mosley leading the British Union of Fascists. The series ends with Tommy realising Mosley and his doctor's partnership and riding off on his white horse.
Peaky Blinders' upcoming feature film The Immortal Man is set some years after the Season 6 finale, during World War II (1939-45).
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