Peaky Blinders was named the Best Drama at the National Television Awards this week, days after the cast and crew completed filming for season five.
Creator Steve Knight thanked fans for voting for the show, noting that the team was “exhausted” after shooting the latest series.
The BBC teased a few upcoming scenes from the new series in a trailer earlier this month.
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The clips gave audiences the first glimpse of Whitehall, where Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, “will become a politician with a vision to change Britain forever”, says the Daily Express.
The short video also shocked fans with a split-second image of Tommy knocked down on the floor next to the burning wreckage of a car.
“Just moments later, in what appears to be the same scene with fire flickering to the side from the burning car, Tommy is clutching what seems to be the dead friend or family member that was laying beside him,” says the Express.
So what other surprises are in store? Here’s everything you need to know about the fifth series of Peaky Blinders:
Who is involved?
Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) will return as Tommy’s ally Aberama Gold, while Jack Rowan is back as Aberama’s son Bonnie, whom Tommy is helping to develop a boxing career.
Union convener Jessie Eden, played by Charlie Murphy, is also confirmed to be returning, as well as recurring characters such as Lizzie Stark (Natasha O'Keeffe), Tommy’s sister-in-law Linda Shelby (Kate Phillips) and the only female Shelby sibling, Ada (Sophie Rundle).
“No word yet on whether we’ll be seeing Tom Hardy again as Alfie Solomons, although he looked pretty dead to us in the season four finale,” Digital Spy adds.
Charlotte Riley has revealed she won’t be reprising her role of the horse trainer and rich widow May Carleton.
May had something of a burgeoning romance with Tommy in series two, and the pair were reunited in series four after years apart.
But Riley has told Digital Spy: “I don’t think that my character will be coming back. I mean, I would go back in a heartbeat [if asked], because I just love it so much.”
What will happen?
The first official photograph for the fifth series featured Murphy, as a newly installed MP, on horseback.
It’s not immediately clear as to why Shelby has taken to his horse, but here’s the official series synopsis: “Series five of Steven Knight's crime family saga finds the world thrown into turmoil by the financial crash of 1929. Opportunity and misfortune are everywhere. When Tommy Shelby MP (Cillian Murphy) is approached by a charismatic politician with a bold vision for Britain, he realises that his response will affect not just his family’s future but that of the entire nation.”
Creator Knight has said the story of Peaky Blinders and the Shelby family will be “woven into the political fabric of Britain and Europe” as the 1930s begin, with Tommy facing the “darkest force he has ever faced”.
“The one thing we do know is that, with Tommy elected as an MP, the Shelby clan are more powerful than ever – and even Arthur will have political connections,” says NME.
Paul Anderson, who plays Arthur, Tommy’s brother, explained that he’s “not going to be a politician” per se.
“He’s got political ties now, let’s put it that way. But you won’t see him at no rallies or in Parliament. What it gives Arthur and his family is more power. Tommy is in a position of power, and he can only get stronger in that position,” he told the Metro.
There are rumours that the next series will involve the Shelby Company Ltd tending to its new business ventures in America.
“It would be pretty epic to see them going to America,” Harry Kirton, who plays Finn Shelby, told NME. “I want to see all of the brothers, including Bonnie, come in, kick down the doors of America and are just like ‘come on’.”
After the name check in season four’s finale, there’s “every chance we could see Al Capone now that the Peaky Blinders have business with him”, says Digital Spy.
It also looks as though we’ll be losing another character as Murphy has been spotted attending a funeral during filming.
When will it be released?
The show will definitely return in 2019, but an official date has not been set. When it does arrive, it will be on BBC One rather than BBC Two.
