Peaky Blinders boss returns to the origins of the hit series with a new project – with a big change

After 6 seasons of the hit series Peaky Blinders – Gangs of Birmingham, Steven Knight still hasn’t had enough of the English city where the filmmaker spent most of his life. This is what happens to him in his new series This Town back to Birmingham. However, instead of revisiting the gang wars of the 1920s, this time he sets the story a good 60 years later – and even brings in his own experiences.

This Town explores the 80s music movement in Birmingham

The series focuses on four figures from different socio-cultural backgrounds who are passionate about the music movement Ska and two-tone are. This formed in Birmingham and Coventry in the late 1970s and early 1980s from Jamaican ska, British New Wave and punk. As Steven Knight told the Radio Times, this was a time that shaped him:

I wanted to do something from my own experience because I grew up in an environment that was similar. Music was everywhere at that time and for us it was something ‘different’. It was different and everyone liked it.

The fictional story of the four main characters unfolds against the backdrop of true historical events, such as the Handworth riot in 1981, which serves as the starting point for the series:

The series starts with a riot and I hope that this mood of ‘riot’ continues throughout the series. The uprising was realit took place in Handsworth, Birmingham and I used it to introduce our four different characters who all come together there.

The cast of the series includes Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery, Levi Brown (Payback), Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy), Jordan Bolger (The Woman King) and David Dawson (The Last Kingdom).

When and where can we see This Town?

This Town is in the UK on March 31, 2024 launched on BBC One. It is not yet clear when and where Steven Knight’s series will be shown in this country.

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