Cillian Murphy To Lead The Cast Of BBC Two Gangster Drama ‘Peaky Blinders’

‘The Dark Knight Rises Star,’ Cillian Murphy joins the cast of ‘Peaky Blinders’

Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight Rises) has been announced as the lead character Tommy in the new six-part BBC Two drama ‘Peaky Blinders’.

Created by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises), Peaky Blinders tells the story of a gangster family in post-war Birmingham.

Set in 1919 Birmingham, Tommy (Cillian Murphy), is the most ruthless brother of them all in an epic gangster family saga in the lawless slum neighborhoods of post-war Birmingham. Returning soldiers, newly-minted revolutionaries and criminal gangs all fight for survival in an industrial landscape gripped by economic upheaval. Tommy’s leadership is about to be put to the test. A ruthless new police chief arrives in town from Belfast to clean up the city and, perhaps more lethally, a beautiful woman arrives in the neighborhood with a mysterious past and a dangerous secret.

The name ‘Peaky Blinders’ is a reference to their practise of sewing razor blades into the peaks of their caps.

The drama will be produced by Caryn Mandabach Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions, executive producers are: Steven Knight, Caryn Mandabach, Greg Brenman, Jamie Glazebrook, Frith Tiplady and Matthew Read for the BBC.

It is created by Steven Knight, directed by Otto Bathurst (Five Days, Criminal Justice, Margot) and produced by Katie Swinden (Luther, Spooks), and is written by Steven Knight, David Leland (Wish You were Here, Band of Brothers, Mona Lisa), Stephen Russell (Hattie, Shameless) and Toby Finlay (Ripper Street, The Picture of Dorian Gray).