Billy Kimber: The leader of the Birmingham Boys (also known as the Brummagem Boys) was a real gang leader and possibly the biggest crime boss in England. In real life, he died of a prolonged illness rather than a shot from Thomas Shelby’s gun. In the script, Aberama Gold was supposed to crash through the roof of the Chinatown house in the series opener, but the location was a National Heritage property and they couldn’t make serious alterations. Instead, a lathe and plaster wall was built for Aberama to burst through – actor Aiden Gillen nailed it on the first take. The dramatic, abstract lighting in the Commons Chamber set at the Houses of Parliament was in part a nod to Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour film about Churchill in WWII, and partly a canny budget save to avoid building more of the set than would be seen. In the series, the Blinders expand their influence into racehorses and even politics as time goes by. The series is set in the aftermath of World War I; the latest season reaches as far as 1934. In reality, the Birmingham Boys had usurped the Blinders bythe 1920s. (They would, in turn, be overthrown by the Sabini Gang.) As time passed, the name Peaky Blinders would come to be synonymous with any Birmingham street criminals, paving the way for the urban legends that would inspire the series. While mirrors were used in connection with Oswald Mosley’s character to reflect his extreme narcissism, for Tommy Shelby they meant something else. In the Bingley Hall dressing room, Tommy was reflected on both sides, creating a hall of mirrors effect says Northridge. “It’s so he can’t escape his own mind,” explains Northridge. “It’s just confusion and chaos, which is why we wanted that layering of reflections going on for infinity. He’s finally met the man he can’t defeat – or understand – and it’s himself.” Peaky series five Easter Eggs and Trivia

The sign for W. Northridge and Son Builders seen in the exterior of the Shelby Co. office is a tribute to the production designer’s father, a builder by trade. Image credit: Nicole Northridge The ‘A. Byrne Grocer’ shop sign glimpsed outside Bingley Hall in the finale is a nod to director Anthony Byrne. Særligt anbefaler vi, at du prøver Fever-Trees Aromatic tonic. Smagen fra denne tonic får de bedste krydderier fra ginnen frem. Samtidig, så får den en unik farve, der kan imponere de fleste. Peaky Blinders gin smager fantastisk. Faktisk, så smager den så godt, at den har vundet priser for den smag blandt andet ved ‘San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2018’ og ‘International Spirits Challenge 2018’. A real swan was also filmed but later cut from the episode four scene in which Tommy stands on the bridge over the canal contemplating suicide, and has a vision of The January coal barge bearing the half-buried corpse of his dead wife Grace. “We had a swan who swam under the bridge for real with an animal wrangler and then the barge came under with Grace in it. There’s a little clip that’s missing,” says production designer Nicole Northridge.Greg Millar, one of the co-founders let me behind the bar for a closer look at the two dozen distillations, and though I never watched the TV series about some Midlands mobsters who sewed razor blades into the brims of their hats, the label did make Peaky Blinder stand out as a brand I hadn’t tried before. On Tommy’s desk at his stately home is a golden eagle inkstand flanked by two golden lions, each selected, explains set decorator Jonnie Mead, to represent Tommy’s leadership and power. “He’s being challenged by everyone, by the family and those outside of the family who he fears want to take his crown, so consequently he wants these markers that say ‘I am in charge, I’m the boss. While these things stay on his desk, he is the guy you do not challenge.’ ‘…an act of love’ The swan was the motif for Grace this year,” she explains. It represents Grace’s purity and elegance, and its repeated appearances across the series reflect the way the Grace is continually playing on Tommy’s mind. “Grace is calling him home, saying. ‘Come and be with me’. It’s pretty chilling with the swan being such a beautiful, iconic animal, that it’s a metaphor for Grace and Tommy’s suicidal thoughts.” ‘The stained glass is a connection to Tommy’s regiment’

On the chalkboard behind Finn in his Small Heath office are written the names of race horses, many of which have narrative significance. One is ‘Golden Brown’, a reference to the family’s opium deal this series. Nemlig med en Peaky Blinder Gin og en sixpence på hovedet. Denne gin er ikke bare fjollet merchandise for den legandariske bande, der efter første verdenskrig huserede Birminghams gader. Alfie Solomons: Solomons is based on a real-life gangster named Alfred Solomon. Like most Tom Hardy characters, the accent is purely of his own invention. No one but Tom Hardy would ever talk like that. Winston Churchill: Played by Andy Nyman, Richard McCabe and Neil Maskell, this future British prime minister was, in fact, a real guy. For more on this, see the first season of The Crown. (Or, you know, read almost any history book.) As I often favour when trying a new gin, I chose Fever Tree’s Indian Tonic, while the scattering of juniper berries made for a luxurious presentation; and the flavour didn’t disappoint either.

Peaky Blinder Spiced Dry Gin is one to look out for –

While the other characters take opium and cocaine from plain bottles, Polly’s are always ornately decorated with silver carvings and stoppers. “You go up a stage for Polly,” says Mead, “it’s always that bit more decorative and beautiful”. On the floor of Alfie Solomon’s Margate apartment is a tiled mosaic of the word “Lethe”, the river of oblivion in Hades, the underworld in Greek mythology. It was requested by director Anthony Byrne to symbolise Alfie’s otherworldly status as a character who sort of returned from the dead (after being shot by Tommy at the end of series four). Ginnen er produceret af Sadler-familien. I Englands berømte ‘sorte land’ har Sadler-familien været leverandør af de fineste øl og spiritus siden 1861. I løbet af et århundrede har familien med viden og lidenskab ført familien til at skabe denne dristige, lille batch, håndlavede krydret gin, blandet med eksotiske krydderier og botanicals. The Commons Chamber benches were repurposed for the gallery set where Ada watched Tommy give a parliamentary speech.

For last Friday evening we decided to try the recently opened bar within Bovey’s old Town Hall which has been refurbished to create the Dartmoor Whisky Distillery. And what a revelation the place turned out to be, with the gleaming old French brandy still working away at one end of the vaulted main space, and the hand crafted bar at the other: brimming with different gin and whisky bottles.

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Darby Sabini: Noah Taylor’s Italian kingpin was a real English criminal who clashed with Kimber and his Birmingham Boys over control of racecourses for years. The positioning of the Shelby men’s portraits in the company boardroom is significant as a visual demonstration of Tommy’s power over, and in series five, distance from, Arthur and Michael.