Peaky Blinders

Fandom
Name:	Peaky Blinders
Abbreviation(s):	PB
Creator:	Steven Knight
Date(s):	2013-
Medium:	television
Country of Origin:	UK
External Links:	IMDB
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Peaky Blinders is a television show about a family of gangsters in Birmingham, UK, in the 1920s. It is created by showrunner Steven Knight for the BBC. It is complete with six seasons available.

Canon

Resources

Scripts and transcripts

• Downloadable scripts of episodes 1.01, 2.01, and 3.01 from BBC Writers Room
• Transcripts (subtitle compilations) of all aired episodes through season 5 from tvshowtranscripts

Extras

• The Ballad of Tommy Shelby by Steven Knight, narrated by Cillian Murphy
• Transcript of The Ballad of Tommy Shelby transcribed by you_are_marvelous (Reddit)
• The Gospel of Alfie Solomons, Part I by Steven Knight, narrated by Tom Hardy
• Transcript of The Gospel of Alfie Solomons, Part I transcribed by you_are_marvelous (Reddit)

News and interviews

• The Legitimate Home for Peaky Blinders, the official website for the show. Includes interviews with key show creatives, as well as news, bonus works, and behind-the-scenes content.

Fandom

Peaky Blinders is a small fandom with a presence on tumblr and on Archive Of Our Own. Some fanwriters who publish on tumblr don't publish on ao3, and vice versa.

Shipping

Reader-Insert

Reader-Insert fics are extremely popular in this fandom. On tumblr in particular, there are a significant number of fics written in the second person that pair the reader with a character from the show.

If you add together the Tommy Shelby/OC and Tommy Shelby/Reader fics, that category ties with the largest show-character ship (Tommy Shelby/Alfie Solomons) regarding number of fics. Next by numbers is Alfie Solomons/Reader or Alfie Solomons/OC. There also exist smaller numbers for John Shelby, Michael Gray, and Arthur Shelby.

Show character pairings

• Tommy Shelby/Alfie Solomons - Alfie Solomons is actually a fairly minor character in the show, but slash. Although Alfie Solomons is indeed a minor character, he is written as an anti-hero in the style of Joss Whedon’s Spike and Loki. Alfie engages in a complex dance of alternating opposition to and alliance with the main character, Tommy. Both a mirror and a foil to the protagonist, he is talkative and emotive in contrast to Tommy’s silent coolness, and a truth-teller to Tommy’s secret-keeper. Alfie’s dialogue - his wall of words - and their scenery-chewing delivery by actor Tom Hardy are a wonder of the world. Alternately a powerful support and a powerful enemy to Tommy, Alfie is frequently present at climactic turning points in Tommy’s life. In addition to his compelling dynamics with Tommy, Alfie is a Jewish character and a child of immigrants who expresses a simmering anger at his family’s tormentors from the Old Country and at the slurs and othering he receives in his new country. As a powerful gangster, he is often in a position to take some small revenge for these ills. This bit of representation may be welcome to some of the show’s Jewish fans, enhancing their enjoyment of this unique character. For all these reasons, and yes, slash, Tommy Shelby/Alfie Solomons is a popular pairing in this fandom.
• Grace Burgess/Tommy Shelby - canon
• Tommy Shelby/Lizzie Stark

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

Show character pairing & gen fics

• Salvation by cutecumber_flower. A what-if fic set immediately after the Margate scene in ep 4.06, with spare and evocative writing. Long and gently plotty, this fic will heal your broken heart. (Tommy Shelby/Alfie Solomons)
• Afterlife by WhatsMyLine. A gripping and emotional series that takes off from ep 5.06. In a lurching, disordered way, Tommy reaches out for help to the person who notices that his condition has got worse. (Tommy Shelby/Alfie Solomons)

Meta

• Meta posts on Tommy’s mental state and PTSD by deadendtracks
• Meta posts on Tommy and Grace's relationship by deadendtracks
• Tommy Shelby's WWI timeline by smilla02 (Veneredirimmel, Smilla)
• The Importance of Antiheroes by Brooksie C. Fontaine (thecaffeinebookwarrior) & Sara R. McKearney (July 2020), an essay with a long section on Tommy's role and a short section on Alfie's role in Peaky Blinders; archive link

Archives & Fannish Links

• Peaky Blinders works on Ao3
• Peaky Blinders tag on Tumblr
• Peaky Blinders subreddit on Reddit