I hadn't heard of Peaky Blinders until a week ago, but we've burned through two seasons in recent days. Everyone is talking about House of Cards and Orange is the New Black and this ranks as good as or better than those.
The story is kind of a mix of The Godfather and the Sopranos set in post-World War I Birmingham, England. The primary arc of the Shelby family's elicit business is set against a sub-plot of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
Cillian Murphy portrays protagonist Tommy Shelby, the decorated war hero that has come home to take control of the family business and attempt to take it legit (remind you of anyone?) while also going toe-to-toe with the loyalist Ulster police/military officer Chester Campbell. The despicable Campbell is brought to life by Sam Neill.
It's hard to cheer for a character whose business brings so much misery to so many lives, but as in all great storytelling, Murphy's Tommy Shelby is a complex character that has a tremendous storm boiling just beneath the calm surface. Similarly as we learn more about Inspector Campbell, we learn why the Irish republicans have fought so hard for so long against those loyal to the British monarchy.
So far there have been two six episode seasons and they are well worth watching. ?
Watch Peaky Blinders Online | Netflix
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Bookmarking for later. We burned through season 5 of Downton Abbey in two days, so we need something else.
+Cool Cadillac Cat Interestingly Peaky Blinders is set in the same time period as Downton Abbey, but it couldn't be more different. We quit Downton about two-thirds of the way through the second season as it seemed to run off the rails. This is so much more compelling to watch.
Reminds me, I need to see if Mr. Selfridge is coming back for a third season…
<does some Interwebbing>
Damn, doesn't look like it.
I heard about it on +The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and am planning on watching it soon. There was another one he was going on about that I can't recall right now.
We watched the first episode of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries last night. It takes place in the 1920's Melbourne (it's an Australian production). Based on one episode, I highly recommend it.
My wife described it as a cross between Downton Abbey and Veronica Mars (two shows that we really enjoy).
The other one he was on about was called Foyle's War.