The BBC show that seemed to slip by unnoticed last September – Peaky Blinders – is returning this autumn with a second season, and another major star in its cast. With the first season featuring Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill in leading roles, those two dramatic heavyweights will now be joined by Tom Hardy – star of The Dark Knight Rises and, most recently, the tremendous Locke.
Peaky Blinder is a grand, sweeping tale of the historic gang of the same name that operated in Birmingham, England, at the turn of the century. Legend has it that their name came from their tendency to wear peaked caps with razors sewn into the front for use as a weapon – although that has been questioned in recent times. The show is set shortly after World War I, and centres around the gang’s highly dangerous boss, Tommy Shelby (Murphy), and Chief Inspector Chester Campbell (Neill) of the Royal Irish Constabulary, who was drafted in to help purge the city of gangs and violence.
While it is not yet clear exactly who Tom Hardy will be portraying, it does seem that his character will tend more toward the gangster side of the equation, rather than law enforcement. It also seems – from the image that has been released, and can be found below – that he is going for the full-bearded look with this role.
While the actor does not feature in the brief teaser trailer that has appeared online for the second season, it is clear that the show will retain the same gritty atmosphere and sense of barely contained chaos that it worked so hard to establish over the course of its six episode first season. Stir some Tom Hardy into that mix, and I doubt the Peaky Blinders will go unnoticed a second time.
