Peaky Blinders is one of the most memorable shows of all time. The British period crime drama is based in Birmingham in the early 1920s where Thomas Shelby, the dangerous leader of the Peaky Blinders lives with his family. Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of Thomas Shelby is one that keeps you hooked throughout the series. The show ran for 6 seasons from 2013 to 2019 and is available on Netflix.
What Were The 3 Rules For the Cast of Peaky Blinders?
The cast of Peaky Blinders needed to play the convincing roles of people from the early 1900s in Birmingham. One of the trickiest parts of playing these roles was certainly getting the accent right. Aside from the accent, there were a couple of other things the cast needed to stick to ensure the authenticity of their roles. Here are the three rules that each cast member had to follow while filming the series-
Nailing the Birmingham Accent
Since the series is set in Birmingham, every character was required to have a thick Brummie accent. It was a strict necessity for the cast to learn and master the Birmingham accent. Every character in the series was so good at nailing their accents that people found it hard to follow what the characters were actually saying. However, it certainly was a prerequisite for the show’s creator. In an interview with The Jonathan Ross Show, English actor Eleanor Tomlinson shared that she had auditioned for a role in the series but was rejected because she couldn’t do the accent properly. She told Ross-
“I auditioned for Peaky Blinders when it was first starting. But they said you need to be able to do the Birmingham accent. I tried and they said, ‘Yeah well look, you just can’t do it, can you love?’ And I was like oh…okay.”
The 1920s Haircut
The haircut was another necessary rule for the actors to adapt to. Since the series is set in the early 1900s, the male actors had to have the undercut haircut which was quite common in the army. As for the ladies, they had to have shoulder-length short hair. While the female characters could do away with a wig, the male actors had to actually shave their heads to represent the undercut. It took some time for a few actors to come around the haircut and get used to it.
On the other hand, once the show took off, the men’s haircut became a fashion statement among the fans. While talking to Vulture, Cillian Murphy spoke about the bizarre popularity the hairstyle gained due to the show.
“I’ve gotten more tolerant of the haircut over the years. And bizarrely, it’s become a desirable cut amongst the fashionistas, which is staggering to me. It’s one more sign of how the show has infiltrated the mainstream culture.”
Become A Smoke Machine
If you’re a fan of Peaky Blinders, you must have surely noticed the amount of smoking every character indulges in. Almost every scene of the series has a character smoking, holding, or lighting a puff. It was crucial to showcase the characters’ smoking since it was quite common for people to smoke during the early 1900s. It was an acceptable form of social behaviour for people to smoke all day. Smoking also indicates the stress that each character is dealing with and how they become dependent on nicotine to let off some steam. Not every character real cigarettes throughout the series, they used nicotine-free cigarettes or herbal roses as a healthy replacement.
Cillian Murphy also stated in an interview that he is not a smoker. He said-
“I don’t smoke but people did smoke day and night then. I use herbal rose things, they’re like my five a day. I asked the prop guy to count how many use during a series and it was three thousand.”
