Recap Series 1 ahead of PEAKY BLINDERS series 2 returning to BBC Two TONIGHT at 9pm

Series 2 of Steven Knight's Award winning Peaky Blinders kicks off tonight (October 2) on BBC Two at 9pm, and The Fan Carpet are excited to share with you this series 1 recap, ahead of the series 2 premiere!

TIME TO MAKE SOME REAL MONEY

Birmingham crime boss Thomas Shelby (Cillian Murphy, Inception) heads into perilous territory in the second series of Steven Knight’s acclaimed gangster epic.

As the 1920s begin to roar, business is booming for the Peaky Blinders gang. Shelby starts to expand his legal and illegal operations. He has his sights set firmly on wider horizons, and the race tracks of the South are calling out for new management.

Shelby’s meteoric rise brings him into contact with both the upper echelons of society and astonishing new adversaries from London’s criminal enterprises. All will test him to the core, though in very different ways.

Meanwhile, Shelby’s home turf of Birmingham is beset by new challenges as members of his family react to the upturn in their fortunes, and an enemy from his past returns to the city with plans for a revenge of biblical proportions.

Featuring a spectacular cast that includes Helen McCrory (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Noah Taylor (Game of Thrones) and Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Peaky Blinders 2 is an enthralling tale of ambition, corruption, violence, desire, and above all an extraordinary family living through extraordinary times.

Emmy Award winning television producer Caryn Mandabach explained why she got involved in Peaky Blinders saying “Steve Knight is an extraordinary guy and we come from similar working class backgrounds - I’m from Chicago which is the US’s second city and Steve’s from Birmingham, the UK’s second city. I was a comedy producer and Steve created Who Wants to Be a Millionaire so neither of us started in drama or the mythologizing business until later in our careers. Steve exploded on to the drama scene with Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises so he was a highly prized writer already when I met him and wanted to get into the storytelling game.

A lot of the drama in Britain doesn’t have a lead character, but of course in the US we feature leads like Tony Soprano, so the phenomenon of Tommy Shelby is rather unique to our TV drama culture here in the UK.

The trick that Steve Knight knew from some place very deep echoes what the late James Gandalfini said: ‘You don’t have to like Tony Soprano, you just have to understand him’. The trick is to provide a rich interior life and backstory which is in Tommy’s case the fact that he had to go and fight in an absurd war, a so-called war to end all wars. Upon returning, someone poor like Tommy had two choices really – become a gangster or become a trade unionist. To depict that most honest of British stories was an important step in Steve’s process. Tommy is one man but if you expand it out, he’s really every man.”

Peaky Blinders is written and created by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Locke) and directed by Colm McCarthy (Sherlock, Doctor Who), produced by Caryn Mandabach Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions.