You have to be living under a rock or living far away in some cave if you haven’t heard about Peaky Blinders by now. The show has become a cultural phenomenon and has a cult following closer to some nation’s total population.
Cultural Impact:
It is the perfect blend of cult status and proper commercial appeal. In an article by the website Joe, they perfectly captured the true essence of the show. Where they write that if the show has to compare to a real-life person, it would be Roy Keane. Who is a fierce, bold and driven individual doing absolutely anything and giving his all to achieve glory for himself and his teammates.
Peaky Blinders became such a phenomenon precisely because of its unhinged and unapologetic realism. Also, the show is just six episodes long for every season, leaving you gasping for more every time you come near the finale. Not to mention the fact that Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby has been his greatest performance ever. The show is as stylistic as it is violent, packed with strong characters. Not only just male but some terrific female characters. Which separates it from many gangster/crime shows that focus solely on male domination. This is where perhaps the show has got it right, where it has been able to portray a solid female character without shaming any of their male counterparts just for the sake of ‘faux feminism’. Both the male and female characters have been shown as alphas, without one shaming the other.
Why is it so popular?
The other fact, which previously mentioned, is the length of the seasons; making the season only six episodes long is one hell of a risk, where you risk your show to be easily forgettable. But if you have the right brains for writing and a stellar cast, you get just the right mixture. That’s precisely what’s happened with Peaky Blinders. Many TV shows have a minimum of 10 episodes. Still, Peaky Blinder’s stories always not just conclude within six episodes, it keeps you hungry for more, you finish the seasons with a sense of anticipation as to what comes next. The whole vibe that comes off from Peaky Blinders is of exclusivity and elite pristine.
What is it about?
When we talk about the show’s premise, the show is based in 1900s’ Birmingham, where Tommy Shelby is one of the several heads of a gangster family. Viewers follow him and his boys as they exploit the British criminal system to reach the top.
Accusations of Covid-19 protocol breach:
Right as we went into the lockdowns earlier in 2020, thats when the show went wild with its viewership. Several reports from multiple sources confirmed that Peaky Blinders became the most-watched show on any platform, cementing its position as one of the best shows this decade has to offer. When we talk about the lockdowns and pandemic, Peaky Blinders recently came under massive fire. When it reported that the cast and crew of the show accused of breaching massive Covid-19 protocols.
Now it would be wise to admit that Tommy Shelby and his boys wouldn’t be massive fans of the pandemic, however separating fiction from reality, the allegations of breach of Covid-19 protocols put Peaky Blinders in an awful spot. There was a report of a staff member who tested positive for Covid-19. But still was allowed to work on the set, putting everyone else at massive risk. Peaky Blinders is currently filming its 6th and final season, but this latest fiasco might put the brakes on the shooting.
