Peaky Blinders: The Real Story (2026) Dir. Robin Bextor

Now a worldwide phenomenon with much global attention brought to the show’s Midlands location of Birmingham, Peaky Blinders is set to hit cinemas in 2026 for a movie following on from the TV series.

In the build up to that release we get a new documentary that sheds a little more light on the show’s creation and achievements, as well as the real-life history of the gangs that inspired it.

Peaky Blinders: The Real Story therefore acts as a bit of a warm-up to the upcoming movie. We get clips from the series and chats with both critics and those involved in the show’s inception (arf). Many were surprised by its huge success even though its mix of “historic drama” and “pop video” aesthetics made it an almost instant hit with viewers.

It’s an affectionate, if slight, look to begin with. There’s not a great deal of juicy insight but the explanations from production crew about the show’s risk taking and its unique use of modern music in a period drama is fascinating.

More interesting is Peaky Blinders’ movie influences on the look and ‘feel’ of each season. The unlikely visual source of Heaven’s Gate (1980), and later more obviously, The Godfather, provide further trivia and behind-the-scenes tidbits. From a filmmaker’s perspective it gives a good insight into its borrowed cinematography from gangster and Wild West films like Rio Bravo to other well-worn Americana cinema styles. 

The usual talking-heads and clips - and a few welcome drone shots of Birmingham’s winding canals - doesn’t particularly set it apart from usual documentary fare. It’s a bit rough and ready, although it’s always great to see Birmingham on screen and an interview with Steven Knight (who’s clearly on his holidays lol) adds some legitimacy to a low-budget project.

Knight’s own upbringing in the area and his family connections to the original gang is explored, and he explains how he wanted to embellish and show the myth of these stories from the past rather than stick too close to grounded reality.

There’s also lots of (well-earned and deserved) praise for protagonist Cillian Murphy and his understated acting style. And Knight’s career is throws light on its launch and we hear about its early limited budget which led to the recycling of sets.

The second half changes tact to focus on the history of the gangsters themselves. Crime historian Carl Chinn – apparently the world expert on Peaky Blinders and descendent of member Edward Derrick - tells us about the style, authenticity and working class roots of the gang and the upper class villains they face.

This historical perspective is informative and passionate and Chinn’s theory on why they are called Peaky Blinders is a somewhat different take to the others already out there.

One question raiased was that the documentary feels slightly backwards. There's an argument to be said that the focus on the origins should have come before we see how this real-life background was adapted for international acclaim. Probably just a personal preference, it made more sense to me to build from a homemade, West Midlands-centric tale to the show’s worldwide praise.

That said, overall Peaky Blinders: The Real Story works as a fan-loving look at the world of the show and its impact. It has a slightly homemade feel on a limited budget but it’s made with passion and a devotion to the series and the area it hails from. And doing what we do, and being a fan of the show ourselves, we have no issue with that one bit… By order of the Peaky Blinders.

★★★★

4 / 5

Michael Sales

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Peaky Blinders: The Real Story is on UK digital 23 February from Reel2Reel Films