Episode 1 Peaky Blinders

This programme contains some violent scenes and strong language

MOURNFUL VIOLIN MUSIC

HER BREATH TREMBLES

APPROACHING FOOTSTEPS

Sir? This is her.

The girl who tells fortunes?

SHE WHISPERS

HORSE SNORTS

They're doing a magic spell to make her win a race.

The horse's name's Monaghan Boy. Kempton, three o'clock, Monday.

You ladies have a bet yourselves but don't tell anyone else.

METAL CLANGS

"And Abraham made his home in a cave,

"but it was good

"because God resided there with him.

"You see, children, God does not care

"if you live in a slum or in a mansion.

"God does not care if you are rich or you are poor.

"You are still God's..."

BELL RINGS

Morning, sir.

Morning, Mr Shelby.

# Deep in a hole his sweeping stole

# But there won't be a single thing that you can do

# He's a God, he's a man, he's a guru

# You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan

# Designed and directed by his raised right hand. #

PEOPLE TALK, CHILDREN PLAY

-Come on, lad.

-Morning, sir.

-Morning, Mr Shelby.

-Come on, hurry up!

Finn?

Arthur's mad as hell.

What does a ten-year-old know about hell, eh?

I'm 11 Sunday.

SHOUTING AND COMMOTION

Place your bets here now for the 2:30 at Kempton.

Down to fours...

OK, girls and boys, you want to push that now, mate.

Thanks very much.

2-1, get your bets in now.

What d'you say? We've got Sovereign, he's an old favourite, 4-1.

Tommy. Tommy!

Tommy, look at the book. Just look.

-Tommy!

-All on Monaghan Boy.

-Good work, John.

Tommy! Get in here, now!

That'll be six pennies, Nipper. That's ten bob you'll see for that.

BOTTLE STOPPER POPS

HE POURS DRINK

You was seen doing the powder trick down at Garrison Court.

Times are hard.

People need a reason to lay a bet.

There was a Chinese.

The washer women say she's a witch. It helps them believe.

We don't mess with Chinese.

Look at the book...

-HE BANGS HIS FIST

-Chinese have cutters of their own.

We agreed, Arthur.

I'm taking charge of drumming up new money.

What if Monaghan Boy wins, Tommy?

You fixing races now?

Do you have permission from Billy Kimber to be fixing races, hm?

Then what's got into you?

You think we can take on the Chinese and Billy Kimber.

Billy's got a bloody army!

I think...Arthur. That's what I do.

I think...

..so that you don't have to.

There's news from Belfast.

Down from tens over eights...

I'm calling a family council tonight at eight o'clock.

I want all of us there.

You hear me?! There's trouble coming.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLARES

TRAIN WHISTLE BLARES

CLAPPING AND CHEERING

All right, shut up now. Shut up.

CHEERING SUBSIDES

Comrades...

-we're here today to take a vote on strike action.

-MEN: Yes!

But before we have a show of hands for that...

..let's have a show of hands from all those who fought in France,

all those who stood side-by-side with your comrades

and watched your comrades fall. Raise your hands.

The blood shed on Flanders fields,

the sweat of YOUR brows!

Who reaps the rewards?

-Is it you?

-MEN: No.

-Is it your wives?

-MEN: No!

-Who, then? Do they stand among us?

-MEN: No!

Or do they sit at home, comfortable, with a full belly

while you scrape to find enough to put shoes on your children's feet!

-MEN: Yes!

-And what is the reward they offer you for your sacrifices made?

A fucking cut in your wages!

THAT is your reward!

Raise a hand, all those who want to strike!

MEN: Yeah!

TRAIN WHISTLES

METAL CLANGS

On the house, Mr Shelby.

-I'll take a mild.

-Right.

Cheers, Thomas.

Good health to you.

The crown of a prince.

-Soon to be King, I'd bet.

-You don't bet.

No, but these past few days I've been speculating.

About what?

One of my Union comrades has a sister,

works in the telegraph office at the BSA factory.

She says over the past week they've had messages

coming up from London to the brass - from Winston Churchill himself.

Something about a robbery.

"A robbery of national significance", it said.

She found the list of names left on the telegraph machine.

And on that list was your name and my name together.

What kind of a list would have the name of a Communist and the name of a bookmaker side-by-side?

Perhaps it's a list of men who give false hope to the poor.

The only difference between you and me, Freddie,

is that sometimes...

my horses stand a chance of winning.

You know, there are days when I hear about the cuttings

and beatings that I really wish I'd let you take that bullet in France.

Believe me, there are nights I wish you had.

COMMOTION FROM OUTSIDE

GLASS SMASHES, PEOPLE SHOUT

-They're going to get me! They're going to get me!

-On three. One, two, three, down!

Breathe, Danny, breathe!

They're going to kill me! They're going to kill me!

-DANNY SOBS

-Danny!

Danny! Danny, you're home. We're all home in England.

You're not in France.

You're not an artillery shell, Danny, you're a man. Eh?

You're not a whizz bang. You're a human being, Danny.

You're all right, you're all right, you're all right.

Up! Up!

(It's all right, it's all right.)

Oh, hell. Did I do it again?

You did it again, Danny.

DANNY SOBS

Got to stop doing this, man.

-It's all right.

-Oh, God, Mr Shelby, I'm sorry...

It's all right. You go home to your wife now, Danny.

Try and get all that smoke and mud out of your head, eh.

Yes, Mr Shelby. I'm sorry.

Go on.

Mr Shelby, you have to do something about him.

Damn right, Harry.

You pay the Peaky Blinders a lot of money for protection.

You're the law around here now, Tommy, aren't you?

Maybe you should put a bullet in Danny Whizz Bang's head like they do with mad horses.

Maybe you'll have to put a bullet in my head someday, too.

Bring the bill to the Peaky Blinders. We'll take care of this.

Look at the gun.

Recognise it?

Oof!

Get up off your arse, you mumping pig!

Aunt Pol! What the fuck d'you do that for?!

Finn was playing with this this afternoon by the cut. It was loaded.

He nearly blew Ada's tits off.

It must've fell out of my pocket.

He said he found it on the sideboard of the betting shop... with bullets in it.

Ma... I must've been drunk.

When are you not drunk?

Look, Aunt Pol, I'm sorry.

I'm...I'm sorry.

We'll keep this between ourselves

if you swear not to leave guns lying around.

Look, I know having four kids without a woman is hard.

But my boot's harder. Now, come on, we're late.

'Right,

'I've called this family meeting because I've got some very important news.'

Scudboat and Lovelock got back from Belfast last night.

They were buying a stallion to cover their mares.

They were in a pub on the Shankhill Road yesterday,

and in that pub, there was a copper...

..handing out these.

"If you're over five feet and can fight, come to Birmingham."

They're recruiting Protestant Irishmen to come over here as Specials.

-To do what?

-To clean up the city, Ada.

He's a Chief Inspector.

The last four years, he's been clearing the IRA out of Belfast.

How do you know so bloody much?

Cos I asked the coppers on our payroll.

And why didn't you tell me?

I'm telling you.

So why are they sending him to Birmingham?

Well, there's been all these bloody strikes at the BSA...

and the Austin works lately.

Now the papers are talking about sedition.

And revolution.

I reckon it's Communists he's after.

So this copper's going to leave us alone, right?

There are Irishmen in Green Lanes who left Belfast to get away from him.

They say Catholic men who crossed him used to disappear in the night.

Yeah, but we ain't IRA. We bloody fought for the King.

Anyway, we're Peaky Blinders. We're not scared of coppers.

-He's right.

-If they come for us, we'll cut them a smile each.

So, Arthur...

is that it? What do you think, Aunt Pol?

This family does everything open.

You've nothing more to say to this meeting, Thomas?

No.

Nothing that's women's business.

This whole bloody enterprise was women's business while you boys were away at war.

What's changed?

We came back.

And the Lord will smite the unholy when the great judgment comes.

And judgment is coming, my friends.

Judgment is coming to this wicked city.

And your wickedness and your fornication will be revealed.

You cannot hide from the Creator.

You cannot hide from the Almighty Himself. The Creator sees all.

You cannot hide from the true and living God...

Get off with yer!

Fuck off!

That's it, I don't go any further.

COMMOTION AND SHOUTING

I have ten minutes. What do you want?

An explanation.

I've always been able to tell when you're hiding something.

People round here talk.

Some of them work at the BSA.

I've been talking to the wives of factory hands.

Detectives have been asking questions in the proofing shops.

Nothing happens in that factory without you knowing about it.

Speak.

God and Aunt Polly are listening.

It was meant to be routine.

I had a buyer in London for some...motorcycles.

I asked my men to steal me four bikes with petrol engines.

I'm guessing my men were drunk.

There's a still inside the factory makes tram-line gin.

They picked up the wrong fucking crate.

The boys dropped it at Charlie Strong's yard as agreed.

They must've taken it from the proofing bay

instead of the export bay.

Holy sweet baby of Mary!

Inside we found 25 Lewis machine guns,

10,000 rounds of ammunition,

50 semi-automatic rifles, 200 pistols with shells.

Jesus, Tommy!

All bound for Libya.

Sitting right there in Charlie Strong's yard.

Tell me you threw them in the cut.

We put 'em in the stables, out of the rain.

The guns hadn't been greased yet.

So that's why they sent a copper from Belfast.

Maybe, maybe not.

Thomas, you're a bookmaker, a robber, a fighting man,

you're not a fool.

You sell those guns to anyone who has use to 'em, you will hang!

Dump them somewhere the police can find them.

Maybe if they know they haven't fallen into the wrong hands

this might blow over.

Tell Charlie to dump them tonight.

No. He won't move contraband under a full moon.

Three days until it wanes.

Then you'll do the right thing?

You have your mother's common sense, but your father's devilment.

I see them fighting.

Let your mother win.

I got tickets for the Penny Crush. They're showing a Tom Mix picture.

I'm not in the mood for the pictures tonight, Ada.

Well, I'm not doing it here again. I got covered in mud last time.

Let's just walk a bit.

If we go down as far as Greet, we could go to a pub.

Your brothers have friends in Greet.

They have friends everywhere. We'd have to walk to London.

I'm with you because you're the only man round here not scared of them.

Oh, I'm scared of them all right.

But you love me more than you fear them, right?

I don't want to be always sneaking about.

-Soon, we'll tell them.

-When?

How did the family meeting go?

-Usual. There's a new copper coming.

-I heard.

Hmm. And Tommy says he's after the likes of you.

So maybe you should burn your books and stop making speeches.

Oh, my Ada.

The only princess of the royal family of the Kingdom of Small Heath.

I'm just a poor communist frog with a big mouth.

Give me a kiss, Princess Ada. SHE LAUGHS

I'm here about the job as a barmaid.

-Are you mad?

-Am I what?

-Do you know about this place?

-I saw it in an advertisement.

-Job's been filled.

-It was in yesterday's paper.

Believe me, love, I'm doing you a favour.

I'm not asking for favours, I'm asking for employment.

You're too...nice.

-How would you know?

-And too pretty.

They'd have you up against a wall.

I have experience and references.

What part of Ireland are you from?

-Galway.

-Ah!

I worked in Dublin.

Me mother was from Galway.

You're too pretty.

Watch.

And listen.

# I wish I was in Carrickfergus

# Only for nights in Ballygrand

# I would swim over the deepest ocean

# The deepest ocean my love to find

# My boyhood friends and my own relations

# Have all passed on now like the melting snow. #

HE LAUGHS

In Ireland my singing made them cry and stopped them fighting.

Well, I hope you know a lot of songs.

CHATTER

Babies...

discarded...with the fish bones and eggshells.

Girls, 11 years old...

..pierced and punctured by old men for thruppence a time!

Rutted upon like animals!

Degradation.

Fathers with their daughters, brothers and sisters sharing beds.

Beggars and thieves left to run in the streets.

And astride the whole stinking pile of wounds and rotten flesh...

..your masters!

The men who you touch your cap to.

The Peaky Blinders!

The vicious...merciless gangs

who blind those that see and cut out the tongues of those who talk.

You are worse than them!

Those of you who have taken their bribes these years since the war,

those of you who look the other way, you...are worse than them!

God damn you for soiling your uniforms!

And then...there are the IRA Fenians and the Communists.

Blacker hearts still.

They feed on the puss of all this corruption like maggots in a corpse.

And like maggots, if left to swell they will eventually swarm like flies

and spread their rotten philosophy across the country and across the world!

Those then...are our enemies!

A three-headed beast.

It is my job to decapitate each one and by God I will do it!

I don't trust any of yous until you earn my trust!

And that takes some earning.

DOOR OPENS

These are the new men who will bolster your ranks.

Good men...

from God-fearing families.

By the time the sun sets, they will be sworn in and in uniform.

And by sunrise tomorrow, they will be on the streets.

God help those who stand in our way!

CHATTER

Sorry, Mr Shelby.

-Right.

-Move out of the way for Mr Shelby.

-Mr Shelby.

-This way.

You see, ladies,

when you're out with a Blinder, you don't have to queue.

Right...I want a blow job off both of you

before they let the ordinary people in.

Away you go. Take your hat off.

What the fuck?!

Who the fuck are you?!

I'm Arthur-fucking-Shelby!

HE GROANS

HE GROANS

Arthur Shelby.

Lead pack dog of the Peaky Blinders.

SHELBY GROANS

Look at me.

Bastard!

Your uniform?

Terrifying, I'm sure.

-Did he have a gun?

-No gun. A knife in his sock, cosh in his belt.

Now, Mr Shelby...

I want you to see this as me introducing myself to you.

Understand?

In all the world the only thing that interests me is the truth.

So...

..what do you know about the robbery?

What robbery?

HE WHIMPERS

I will ask you again.

What do you know...about the robbery?

I swear to God, I don't know what you're talking about.

What fucking robbery?

Argh!

HE GROANS

Aye, after 35 years of dealing with animals like you,

I can tell just by sniffing the air...whether or not you're lying.

I'm not fucking lying!

All right? I'm not fucking lying!

I know.

I see nothing of interest behind the blood in your eyes.

And no blood in your veins

that could carry...even a trace of cunning or guile.

But understand this.

It is well within my power to have you and the rest of your scum family

face down in the canal before the year is out.

On the other hand...

..we can help each other.

LAUGHTER AND CHATTER

-Is it always this busy on a daytime?

-No. These boys are on their way to St Andrews.

-To pray?

-That'll be the day. St Andrews is a football ground.

The Blues are playing. That's the forward line there.

-And that's the goalie, believe it or not.

-Hello!

I need a bottle of rum.

Grace, whatever it is, it's on the house.

-A whole bottle?

-Yeah.

-White or dark rum?

-Don't care.

Right, lads, what'll it be? Two?

Thank you.

Harry said it's on the house.

Are you a whore?

Cos if you're not, you're in the wrong place.

He's one of them you warned me about?

Look, Grace, you're a friendly girl but be careful.

If I say something's on the house, then say nothing to whoever you're serving.

If they decide that they want you, then there's nothing anybody could do about it.

Lucky for you, since he got back from France, Tommy doesn't want anybody at all.

Yes, lads?

HE GROANS

-John, wipe the blood out of his eye.

-Since when did you give orders?

-I'm a trained nurse.

-Don't make me laugh, it hurts me face.

-I bloody am!

-You went to one first-aid class in the church hall

and got thrown out for giggling.

-Not before I learnt how to stop somebody from choking.

-I'm not bloody choking, am I?

You will be when I wrap this cloth round your neck.

Let me see him.

All right, have this.

-HE GROANS

-Give me that.

You're all right.

He said Mr Churchill sent him to Birmingham.

National interest, he said.

Something about a robbery.

-He said he wants us to help him.

-We don't help coppers.

He knew all about our war records.

He said we're patriots...like him.

He wants us to be his eyes and ears.

-I said...

-HE GROANS

I said we'd have a family meeting and take a vote.

Well, why not? Hmm? We've no truck with Fenians or communists.

What's wrong with you?

What the fuck is wrong with him lately?!

If I knew, I'd buy the cure from Compton's Chemists.

-CHATTER

-# I am just a young girl

# I have just come over

# Over from the country where they do things big

# And amongst the boys

# I've got myself a lover

# And since I have a lover

# I don't care a fig

-ALL:

-# The boy I love is up in the gallery

-# The boy I love is...

-# ..looking at me

# Can't you see him standing there

# Waving his handkerchief

# As merry as a robin that sings on the tree. #

We haven't had singing in here since the war.

Why do you think that is, Harry?

HEAVY BREATHING

So did Arthur say what kind of deal this new copper offered him?

God! The second your balls are empty it's back onto politics.

What did Tommy say?

He didn't say anything. You know what he's like.

Yeah, I know what he's like.

He likes to take his fights onto the mud.

Doesn't like to stand and wait.

You know what he'd do if he found out about us.

He could try.

Sometimes, it's like you're with me just to show you can.

One day me and Tommy will be on the same side again.

Tommy...! Aargh.

MEN SHOUT

HE RANTS INCOHERENTLY

Hey, what you do? We're closed. Go home.

Go home, crazy man. HE RANTS INCOHERENTLY

I said go home, crazy man!

SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

I said go home.

Fix bayonets!!!

WOMEN SCREAM

Secretary of State, this is Chief Inspector Campbell.

Mr Churchill, sir, may I say what a great honour it is to meet you.

Bit of a whistle stop tour.

-Love the hat, by the way.

-Thank you. It's beaver.

So, how are you settling in?

I have set up a command network.

I have agents in place across the city

who will act as my eyes and ears.

And I have begun to interrogate suspects vigorously.

You were in Belfast. I understand you broke a few Fenian hearts.

A rat's nest, sir.

So who do you think stole the guns? Fenians or Communists?

If it is IRA Fenians, I will find them and find the guns.

If it is Communists, I will find them and find the guns.

If it is common criminals, I will find them and find the guns.

To me there are no distinction between any of the above.

We chose you because you are effective.

But remember this, Mr Campbell. This is England, not Belfast.

Bodies thrown in the rivers, wash up in the papers here.

We must keep the existence of these stolen guns out of the news

otherwise we will simply be advertising them for sale.

If there are bodies to be buried, dig holes and dig them deep.

I want everything accounted for down to the last bullet.

Uncle Charlie, a word.

They are aboard. There's no moon.

We can take them out to the turning point beyond Gas Street

and leave them on the bank.

They'll be found by railway men first thing.

Is that agreement?

I changed my mind.

You what?

I have an alternative strategy.

Tell Curly to take her out to the old tobacco wharf.

There's a lock up mooring we used to keep cigarettes.

He knows it.

When the boat leaves your yard, it's no longer your concern.

Have you lost your fucking mind?

Have you not seen the streets?

They've sent a fucking army to find these things...

That's right. They've shown their hand...

Their hand?

If they want them back this bad, they'll have to pay.

That's the way of the world.

Fortune drops something valuable in your lap,

you don't just dump it on the bank of the cut.

You're blood, Tommy.

I've always looked out for you like a dad.

You're going to bring holy hell down on your head.

This copper takes no prisoners.

I'm told he didn't serve.

Reserved occupation.

Is it another war you're looking for, Tommy?

The tobacco wharf.

By order of the Peaky Blinders.

Are you in position?

I am, sir.

Your first impressions?

I am quite shocked at how these people live.

Have you found anything out that might help me?

I interrogated the head of the Peaky Blinders. He didn't know anything.

A brute.

It strikes me that it isn't Arthur who heads the Shelby family.

It is the younger one, Thomas.

They say he won two medals for gallantry in the war.

You sound fascinated.

However, my opinion has not changed.

The bookmaker gangs have other business

and the Communists are too weak to have planned this.

I believe the guns were taken by the IRA.

You must not let your personal history cloud your judgment.

What history?

That the IRA murdered my father will not affect my judgment.

If you see any guns, check the serial numbers against that list.

Your father was the finest officer I ever worked with.

I know he would be very, very proud of you.

Danny, as you know, the man you killed was Italian.

And those two men over there are his brothers.

If I let the Italians do this, Danny,

they'll cut off your manhood and let you drain.

That's how those bastards do things.

So, to stop a war breaking out between us and the Italians...

..and to save you from their barbarity...

..I said I would dispatch you myself.

They are here to witness.

I died over there anyway, Tommy.

I left my fucking brains in the mud.

You have any last requests, comrade?

You'll look out for my Rosie and my boys?

See they get apprenticeships. At the BSA factory or the Austin.

They'll make foremen. I know they will.

Just ordinary...

Just ordinary men.

And they won't get told to do this shit...

This shit... This shit that we got told to do.

I suppose I ought to pray now.

Those fucking guns blew God right out of my head.

Is that boat for me?

We have to get your body out of the city, Danny.

This new copper, you know...

Don't bury me anywhere where there's mud. OK?

Promise me.

Bury me on a hill and tell Rosie where.

You were a good man and a good soldier.

Yes, Sergeant Major.

In the bleak midwinter.

GUNSHOT

Where are you?

It bloody won!

Monaghan Boy bloody won!

Yeah. It won.

And word will spread.

So next time we do the powder trick it won't just be The Garrison

that'll bet on the horse, it'll be the whole of Small Heath.

And you know what? The horse will win again.

And the third time we do it

we'll have the whole of Birmingham betting on it.

A thousand quid bet on the magic horse.

And that time, when we are ready, the horse will lose.

Think about it.

You OK, Danny?

I'm still in shock.

You sure this isn't heaven?

If it was heaven, what would I be doing here?

Tommy wanted you to think it was real

to try and knock some sense into you.

A shell full of sheep brains hurts pretty bad.

It was meant to.

-So where are you taking me?

-London.

Tommy has a little job for you. Give you chance to say thanks.

You're a Peaky Blinder now, Danny.

A bad week.

There was no moon last night. I checked.

Did you do the right thing?

Yes, I did the right thing.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd