Peaky Blinders

Unless you are an avid student of early twentieth century Midlands history the title of BBC2's new gangster saga Peaky Blinders will be a total mystery. In fact it sounds more CBeebies gritty drama. Apparently it refers to the titular gang's use of razor blades in the peaks of their caps. Like a fair few others, no doubt, I had to look this up as it wasn't mentioned in the first episode.

Set in Birmingham just after the first world war Peaky Blinders tells the story of Thomas Shelby ( Cillian Murphy ) and his criminal family as they battle for supremacy in the extremely grim andgrimy streets of Brum. The accidental robbery of a hoard of machine guns has set not only gruff Inspector Campbell ( Sam Neill ) on the Shelby's trail but also Secretary of State Winston Churchill (Andy Nyman ) wants the guns back at any cost. So the scene was nicely set in the first episode for lots of blood and guts to come.

But whether by design, or accident, almost the whole cast seems to struggle with the Brummie accent. Not since the glory days of the venerable Crossroads, has there been so many dodgy Midland accents on show; they seem to waver all over the British Isles at times. But if you can get over this Peaky Blinders looks like it might, just might, be a class act.

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