London — Steven Knight, something special happened around his television crime drama “Peky Blinders” a few years ago when rapper Snoop Dogg asked him to talk to him. I knew that I was there.
In a recent interview, Knight met in a hotel room in London to discuss a three-hour show based on the actual Shelby family who worked in Birmingham, central England, behind World War I. “Peeky” reminded the rapper how he was involved in Los Angeles gang culture, Knight said.
“I don’t know how the connection between Birmingham and South Central in the 1920s is,” said 62-year-old Knight. “I think you’re lucky with some projects, which resonates with people.”
Since its premiere in Britain in 2013, the turbulent fate of the Shelby family, led by Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), has struck a chord with many in the context of the political and social turmoil of the interwar period.
Now, after six seasons, the cultural hit is nearing its end and the final outing on Netflix will begin on Friday. (Season aired in the UK earlier this year.) Season 6 is the official conclusion of the show, but Knight Spin-off movie And for other projects, the final season is considered the “end of the beginning”.
In a recent video interview, he talked about the development of “Peeky” and what he plans for the future. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
When did you first come up with the idea of adapting the Peaky Blinders story?
They experienced the world because they told me these stories because my parents grew up in Birmingham’s Small Heath when I was a kid. Whenever they told me a story, I always thought it would be a great drama.
Maybe 20 years ago I thought I’d do it as a TV series, but I’m really grateful that it didn’t happen because I didn’t have the technology of justice. Then I stopped writing movies, and when TV started to look like it is, someone said, do you have a TV idea? It was a kind of idea in the bottom drawer.
Why did those stories resonate with you as a kid, did you see them as heroes?
yes. My dad’s uncle was an illegal bookmaker known as the Peaky Blinders, so he was in awe of them as a kid. He will see them wearing razor blades in their hats and white clothes drinking whiskey from a jar of jam.
And I know those streets, I know pubs, I know Garrison pubs-real pubs-and when I wanted to do a “peaky”, I told the myth I didn’t like it and decided to keep it, what was it really like?
I wanted to keep it as if I was looking through my child’s eyes. All horses are beautiful. All the clothes are great. I was a big fan of westerns. It’s like the West and that’s the way I wanted to keep it.
Do you think the show changed the way you look at Birmingham? At least in the UK, cities and accents are often malicious.
Part of the first task was to make Birmingham (formerly a blank canvas at best) look cool. To give it a story. Liverpool has the Beatles and Manchester has a nightclub scene. There was really nothing in Birmingham.
There were suggestions in the early days of moving the story to London and other cities, and I said no. I think the fact that Birmingham was a pure white canvas helped me because I had no preconceptions.
According to someone I know in Birmingham, when I go abroad and talk, I’m immediately called the “Peky Blinders.” And that’s not a bad thing, it’s always a good thing. It’s purely in the media that probably gave Birmingham an identity it didn’t have.
The show may have been easily historic, but you interweave modern social movements and political events throughout the season. Why was it important to you?
If you’re setting something up in the 1920s, looking at what really happened historically gives you a huge amount of material to use.
I didn’t see the history book, first of all, because I don’t think it really tells the history of the working class. They also tend to see trends and patterns that make everything that happens in the end seem inevitable. It wasn’t.
Wherever you can look at the newspaper and testify by word of mouth about how life is, it’s very appealing. And if it can be incorporated into the work, it only provides a real foundation, even if it is very expensive and mythical.
The show will be held in the same time frame as “Downton Abbey”. Like that series, British historical drama usually shows working-class characters as servants.
Employees and fun people. What I wanted to do was to have these working class characters that we didn’t see them and said, “Isn’t that a shame?” Wasn’t it terrible? Wasn’t their life so scary? Their lives are wonderful, romantic and tragic.
The show’s unchanging criticism is that Depiction of violent masculinity.. What do you think of the claim that “Peaky” beautifies violence?
I think a lot of things are happening. First of all, you portray life in the 20’s and 30’s, but it was very different. Suggesting that people behaved in the same way as they do now is the same as not smoking. But also, when I look at it, violence in “peaky” has enormous consequences. If they get hurt, they stay hurt.
There is a scene where Arthur is in one of the early series [a Shelby family member] He’s in the boxing ring because he’s lost his temper and kills someone. The next season, the boy’s mother appears at the garrison with a gun, hoping for revenge on what happened. In other words, this is not a farewell violence. All violence has consequences.
The show is nearing the end, but you talked about spin-offs, including movies. Why do you want to keep returning to the world of shows?
this is It is partly related to the fact that it appears to be rising and not falling from the audience’s point of view. And I’m interested in drawing conclusions during World War II. Therefore, the movie is set during the war and the movie itself determines what will happen next.
But I’m very interested in keeping the world in the 40’s and 50’s and seeing where it goes as long as I have an appetite. I probably won’t write them all, but the world will be established.
Tommy Shelby is a very complex character. How did he want to end his story?
Before Episode 1 of Season 1, he always imagines that he hit his head with a gun and decided, “Well, I’m not going to kill myself, I’m going to do whatever I want.” There is a great quote from Francis Bacon about how life can be extraordinary because life is so meaningless. Tommy doesn’t think he has points, he doesn’t think he has goals, he doesn’t think he has destinations, he just does these things.
Then, over the next six seasons, he gradually comes back to life. It’s like melting frozen things, but obviously the process is very painful. My view is that Season 6 is asking a question: can Tommy Shelby be redeemed? And I think you can answer the question in the last 10 minutes.