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Culture Shock: Everything You Need To Know About ‘Peaky Blinders’

With its deep characters, tense pacing, and epic story of a British crime family in the wake of World War I, Peaky Blinders has quickly become one of the most binge-worthy shows around. A new season just recently started streaming on Netflix and yet another is set to premiere early next year, so there’s never been a better time to delve into this historical crime drama. Here’s everything you need to know about Peaky Blinders to get all caught up!

1. The show stars Irish actor Cillian Murphy as Peaky Blinders, a man who’s constantly teased for having such a silly name until he gains the respect of everyone by killing a dog.

2. It takes Cillian Murphy four hours to apply his hat before filming and another two to take it off afterwards.

3. The show takes place in England in the years immediately following World War I, which was a time of great unrest due to everyone knowing what the internet was, but not having enough cords to make it.

4. Creator Steven Knight is surprisingly one of three creators of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and is contractually required to have Regis Philbin appear in every episode of Peaky Blinders as an orphaned sewer boy.

5. Lead actress Helen McCrory enlisted the help of real Birmingham native Ozzy Osbourne while trying to get the Birmingham accent down, a favor she now insists was not worth the financial strain of having to replace her entire house’s carpeting after Ozzy repeatedly tracked dogshit all over it.

6. Communism, a fictional socioeconomic ideology invented by the creators of Peaky Blinders for dramatic purposes, has gained enthusiastic supporters even outside the show’s fandom.

7. While Peaky Blinders aims for historical accuracy, gang leader Thomas Shelby frequently uses a functioning cordless hair dryer, and at one point in season three he sings the entire first verse of Nirvana’s 1991 hit single “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”