Peaky Blinders back for two more series
Two more seasons of 1920s gangster series Peaky Blinders and a TV series based on author and journalist Sathnam Sanghera's upbringing in Wolverhampton have been announced.
Peaky Blinders, partly filmed at Dudley's Black Country Museum, and the autobiographical story of The Boy With The Topknot have been commissioned as part of a new season of BBC dramas.
It will be the fourth and fifth series of Birmingham writer Stephen Knight's Birmingham-based period drama Peaky Blinders. Its star, Cillian Murphy, who has been nominated for best actor for his role as Tommy Shelby in the TV Choice Awards, hailed Knight as he talked about the recommission.
"Tommy Shelby is one of the most intense, challenging characters I've had the opportunity to play," the Irishman said.
"I'm particularly grateful that Steven's original, dynamic writing and the long form series allow me to explore Tommy in depth. I very much look forward to Tommy's evolution over the next two chapters."
The Boy With The Topknot, based on Sathnam Sanghera's critically acclaimed memoir of love, secrets and lies, will be screened on BBC2.
Set in Wolverhampton, the series will tell the humorous and emotional story of a second-generation Indian growing up in Britain.
The author, a former Highfields School pupil, grew up on Prosser Street in Park Village in the 1970s, where the population was largely made up of migrants from the Caribbean and Indian subcontinent. He later attended Wolverhampton Grammar School, where he was head boy, and Cambridge University, and now lives inLondon.
He said: "I'm delighted that The Boy With The Topknot is being adapted for screen. Delighted and of course a little trepidatious.
"The latter because the book is obviously a personal exposition of my childhood and family, and delighted because it's a story I want people to know about and understand."
Charlotte Moore, Acting Director of Television, said: "Following BBC Drama's tremendous start to the year, it is clear audiences are looking for even greater ambition and high quality so I want to continue to expand our range even further and reaffirm my commitment to commission the very best drama in the UK."
