There is much anticipation surrounding the fifth season of BBC drama Peaky Blinders, which starts on Sunday August 25.

But one person won't be tuning in.

Actress Helen McCrory said the first episode was so "disturbingly violent" she could't bear to watch.

The star, who plays Polly Shelby, the matriarch of the notorious Brummie family, said some scenes showed “disgusting, gratuitous violence”.

Speaking at the series launch Helen, 50, told Mirror Online : “It’s really horrible and you should look away. I did.

“I can’t watch it. I think it’s disgusting, gratuitous violence.”

Aunt Polly Gray
Aunt Polly Gray

But the actress, who is married to Billions star Damien Lewis,  believes the smash-hit show depicts the cruel reality of gangland violence in days gone by.

Helen added: “It should be horrifying and you should have the people who are responsible for the violence unable to self-medicate or having mental health problems — because it is not a natural state of affairs.

Harry Kirton (left to right), Helen McCrory, Packy Lee, Daryl McCormack, Charlene McKenna, Sophie Rundle, Finn Cole, Natasha O'Keeffe attending the Peaky Blinders Series Five World Premiere held at Birmingham Town Hall.

" ....I’ve only seen episode one, and there’s a whole bit... We saw the screening in Birmingham, for fans who managed to get lottery tickets."

The actress attended the world premiere of the screening of the first episode, with other cast members in July at Birmingham Town Hall.

In series five,  the financial crash of 1929 impacts of the Shelby family massively.


Tommy Shelby in season 5
Tommy Shelby in season 5




But who are the real Peaky Blinders?

A rare picture of the real Billy Kimber as a young man
A rare picture of the real Billy Kimber as a young man


Against a backdrop of harsh economic deprivation and political tensions in the build-up to World War I, gangs of unemployed, young men fell into crime.

This was particularly evident in cities like Birmingham.

The Peaky Blinders gang in the slums of Birmingham began in the early 1890s with a culture of robbing men on the street, after stabbing and beating them. 

Writer, Brummie Steven Knight, grew up in Small Heath.

Steven, says of Peaky Blinders: “It’s based on real events. My parents, particularly my dad, had these tantalising memories from when he was nine or 10 years old of these people.


"They were incredibly well dressed, they were incredibly powerful, they had a lot of money in an area where no-one had money – and they were gangsters!

“In a way I want Peaky Blinders to be a sort of view of this world through the eyes of a 10-year-old, because the men are smarter and stronger and handsomer and the horses are bigger and everything is intimidating as a kid.

“All of the men had returned from the First World War where they had been instructed to carry out mass murder every day on an unprecedented scale.

"They’ve returned very damaged and they are violent as a result of their experiences. They find they cannot live an ordinary life.”

Where did the name come from?

Notorious Birmingham gangster Billy Kimber, back row second from right, pictured with a London gang in the 1920s


There are a lot of urban myths surrounding the criminal gang, and one of the most common surround the name.

Many believe they were called 'Peaky Blinders' because they would sew razor blades into the peak of their caps and head-butt people in the eyes with the intention to blind them.

However, this has largely been discredited by historians, who think it was actually due to their style of dress.

Who were the ring leaders?

Unfortunately, for fans of the show, there was no Tommy Shelby, it was a Kevin Mooney, real name Thomas Gilbert, who has been cited as the most powerful member of the Peaky Blinders gang.

Jessica Brain writes on that he is attributed with initiating many of the land grabs by the gang.

He became very influential in the hierarchical gang that operated in the area of Small Health and expanded out across the city.

What were their crimes?

Their criminal activities ranged from hooliganism to murder and everything in between.

Ahead of the BBC drama hitting screens in 2013, West Midlands Police released images of the real Peaky Blinders that had been hidden away for over 100 years.

The records detailed minor offences such as shop-breaking, bike theft and false pretences.

But these do not reflect the the fear and violence they brought to the streets of Birmingham with victims being chosen at random, no matter what their age, gender or class.

Muggings and robberies were common and extortion and smuggling were also trademark crimes of a Peaky Blinder

This reputation proceeded them and helped to cement them into local legend.

Although based in Birmingham, Peaky Blinders is largely filmed in Liverpool.