I explored the real-life Peaky Blinders sets at Black Country Living Museum

As a Peaky Blinders fan, I travelled to visit the Black Country Living Museum for the filming locations tour and was able to experience first hand the real life sets, anecdotes from filming and a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the series.

Walking through the museum’s cobbled streets and industrial backdrops is already like taking a step back in time, but knowing famous faces from Cillian Murphy to Paul Anderson have walked those same streets added another layer of intrigue to my much-anticipated visit.

Before embarking on my own tour, I heard about the initiative’s international reach from Kate Kirkpatrick, the museum’s head of cultural enterprises: she said people from more than 80 countries have come to The Black Country to join in.

“It’s absolutely brilliant and unprecedented with people from America, Spain, Germany, Australia and India taking part in these tour,” she said.

I witnessed this first hand, with all other members of my tour party having visited from international locations, and after chatting with them learnt they had flown in specially just for the tour.

The tour began with a talk from tour guide Melvyn Hogan, dressed in period clothing, about the history behind the series covering everything from the real-life names who provided inspiration for the characters to whether the real Peaky Blinders really had razor blades in their caps, all whilst emersed in the iconic filming sets.

The first location we visited was St James’s School, which was the iconic setting for the dramatic murder of Father Hughes in the final episode of series three. Melvyn discussed how filming techniques were used to make the building appear bigger, and how the site appears completely back to front in the series.

The 90-minute walking tour is priced at £40 for adults and includes entry to the Black Country Living Museum site, with Peaky Blinders filming location tours running every Wednesday and Saturday.

Further into the tour we visited the Anchor Forge where there was a photo opportunity with the set of the dramatic tea party, which is featured in season four.

I found the most striking set was Charlie’s Yard, which is used heavily throughout all six seasons: it really felt as though I’d stepped into the Shelbys’ world as I took in the industrial scenery and canal landscape. This set alone was truly amazing.

One member of the tour group, Leon Kosanovic from Croatia, shared his favourite part of the tour.

“Charlie’s Yard was the most shown in the series so I liked that set the most.”

So is it worth a visit?

I was very pleasantly surprised at how in depth the tour was, initially expecting just to see the filming locations, but the stories and tour guide made the experience more than worthwhile.

I was also able to explore the museum’s immersive 29-acre site, which also manages to capture the same industrial theme the Peaky Blinders has. The photo opportunities, the stories, the sets and the general atmosphere made my visit truly special.

Whether you’re a Peaky superfan or you’re simply interested in where the series was filmed, the tour offers a brilliant day out for any potential visitor.