‘Peaky Blinders’ Set To Move From BBC Two To BBC One For Season 5 – Edinburgh
Peaky Blinders is set to get even bigger after the BBC moved the period gangster thriller from BBC Two to BBC One.
The scheduling move will likely mean that Steven Knight’s drama, centered around the Shelby crime family, will add to the 3.6M audience that tuned in for the finale of season four. That season was the period saga’s highest-rated ever and BBC Two’s most-watched drama of 2017. It recently scored Knight, who is already an Oscar nominee for 2004’s Dirty Pretty Things, his first BAFTA nomination in the Drama Writing category.
BBC Director of Content Charlotte Moore revealed that it was moving the Caryn Mandabach Productions and Tiger Aspect Productions drama to the BBC’s main channel during the Edinburgh International TV festival.
She said that it was “cult viewing” among younger audiences and wants to take advantage of that. “When a show really pops like that, it feels like a really good moment to put it on the biggest channel in the country,” she said.
However, Moore said that there would be no change in the plot, presumably no slowing down of the violence, as a result of the move.
Knight said, “I am thrilled that our precious Peaky Blinders is moving to BBC One. Peaky is a show nurtured and grown by the audience who have found us through word of mouth. Hopefully this move will help us reach even more people.”
Caryn Mandabach added, “Peaky Blinders has touched the minds and hearts of everyone who’s watched it and we are honoured to bring a whole new audience with us as we move our merry gang to BBC One for the next series.”
Season 5 is due for air on BBC Two in 2019. Netflix holds U.S. rights. Anthony Byrne was recently set to direct.
In May, Knight said that season 5 is not the last season and, he’s been approached about a spinoff ballet version of the epic gangster series. He also revealed that the show was coming back for seasons 6 and 7.
“We’ve talked to Cillian Murphy and he’s all for it, and the rest of the principal cast are in for it,” he said.
The writer added that he’s been in talks with the Rambert dance company, Britain’s oldest which gave its first performance in 1926. “I had a meeting with Rambert because they said they were interested in turning Peaky Blinders into a ballet,” Knight said. “I don’t know where they would do it, but there was a view to premiering it here in Birmingham.”