By order of… themselves, the Peaky Blinders are back, and their highly anticipated return to our screen is inching closer and closer.
Today, July 30, the BBC has shared the first trailer for season five of the show, and it looks darker, more explosive, and more Peaky Blinders than ever.
Having carved out a unique aesthetic for themselves, the first look at the new season is everything we’ve come to expect from the Birmingham gang and more. There’s Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby both in control but dangerously close to losing it all, his brother Arthur kicking up a storm, Aunt Polly trying her best to keep a handle on her family and, new to season five, the introduction of dangerous, real-life politician Oswald Mosley, played by Sam Claflin.
Check it out:
While there’s still no word on an official release date, the new trailer shows it can’t be far away. Just last month, director Anthony Byrne teased fans on social media, sharing a shot of post-production work on the show, and saying they were ‘getting closer to the end’.
Season four of Peaky Blinders ended more than a year and a half ago, so it’s been quite a while for fans of the show to wait and see what happens. However, as the Shelby clan moves into the 1930s, where they take on politics, the great depression, and the rise of fascism, it’s sure to be one hell of a ride.
Stephen Knight, writer of the show, has called the forthcoming season ‘the best one yet‘, and will see Tommy Shelby adjusting to life as a politician in Westminster’s corridors of power, while his brothers Arthur and Finn hold down the fort in Birmingham.
While Paul Anderson, who plays Arthur Shelby, told Metro that Tommy’s new political position gives the family more power, more cover, more opportunity, and more protection, eyes are also on the introduction of Sam Claflin’s mysterious character.
Billed as a ‘charismatic politician with a bold vision for Britain’, Claflin’s turn as the real-life Oswald Mosley will see Tommy Shelby move away from the gang life of Birmingham, and enter a different kind of battle in London.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Claflin revealed how Mosley, a far-right politician who went on to become the leader of the British Union of Fascists, isn’t afraid to ‘stir things up’, especially when it comes to influencing Tommy.
While writer Stephen Knight has spoken about the parallels between the politicians of the 1930s and the political landscape of today, saying the language used is ‘so similar to today’, and how what is going on in season five ‘is really relevant’ to what’s happening in politics nowadays.
Season five of Peaky Blinders is due to air on BBC One in 2019.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.