Peaky Blinders Season 1 (2013)

1920s Birmingham, England. Through grey factory smoke and narrow alleyways, men in cropped flat caps stride through the city. The BBC’s 2013 series Peaky Blinders is a crime drama depicting the rise of the Shelby family, a post-WWI British gangster clan. Season 1 runs six episodes, following Tommy Shelby’s return from the war and his drive to build his family into the most powerful organization in the north of England.

What it’s about — The Shelby family returned from war

Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) comes back from the First World War transformed into a cold-eyed realist. He leads the Peaky Blinders, a small Birmingham gang, and sets out to seize control of the gambling and racing businesses. Then Irish Royal Inspector Chester Campbell (Sam Neill) arrives in Birmingham hunting the whereabouts of stolen Russian weapons, and Tommy finds himself at the center of an unexpected conspiracy. The drama weaves together class, the scars of war, and immigrant community’s will to survive.

Direction — An aesthetic of silence and modern music

Otto Bathurst’s direction in the first episode sets the show’s tone in a single stroke. Factory districts buried in backlighting and thick shadow, a racetrack with dust suspended in the air, interiors lit by a single candle. The camera stays focused on faces and eyes without excessive movement, conveying more through silence than through words. The choice to use music from modern bands like Nick Cave and Arcade Fire in a period drama is jarring at first, but this very choice creates the show’s identity. The impression from the start is of a drama that doesn’t follow genre convention but builds its own aesthetic.

Performance & characters — Cillian Murphy’s acting through the eyes

Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby is the center and the entirety of this drama. The performance — pale face, restrained physicality, a single glance expressing dozens of emotions — is overwhelming in every episode. A character who buries war trauma and pushes coldly forward, whose cracks briefly show in fleeting moments, and those moments of fracture are what keep the whole show alive. Helen McCrory’s Polly Gray, the Shelby family’s true matriarch, is equally impressive. Not the flashy villain but a figure of heavy survivor’s charisma, she balances the show against Tommy.

What the work says — War’s aftermath and the shackle of family

What makes Peaky Blinders feel like more than a gangster drama is its foregrounding of war trauma. Tommy and his brothers all came back from the war, each carrying its weight in their own way. The story of an Irish Traveller family climbing toward power through the cracks of 1920s class society touches specific layers of British modern history. The mode of survival outside the law, the question of loyalty and betrayal, the shackle called family — these are the themes that run through the entire drama.

Ratings & reception

IMDb score is 8.7 out of 10, placing it in the top tier of crime dramas. The show was nominated at the British BAFTAs and multiple other awards, and Cillian Murphy received numerous Golden Globe nominations for his role across the series. Critics praised the visual style and the lead performance in particular, with consensus that Season 1 laid a definitive foundation for the series’ later achievement.

What doesn’t quite work

Ironically, the short six-episode run leaves something to be desired. Supporting characters — the Shelby brothers in particular — feel slightly compressed when they could have been explored further. Because the network of relationships is so densely woven, the first two or three episodes require concentrated attention to work out who’s who. Viewers unfamiliar with British period accents and slang may also find it hard going without subtitles.

Verdict

Peaky Blinders Season 1 maintains consistent style and density from the first episode to the last. One has to wonder whether this drama would have had this level of conviction without Cillian Murphy — his performance carries everything. When the six episodes end, if the natural desire is to watch more, Season 1 has done its job. Rating: ★4.0.

Recommended for

• Gangster genre fans who prefer psychology and atmosphere over flashy action
• Those who want to experience Cillian Murphy’s acting in concentrated form
• Viewers interested in 1920s British period drama