Within weeks, the show had been renewed for a second season. By 2014, Netflix acquired international streaming rights, and Peaky Blinders became a global phenomenon. Suddenly, “by order of the Peaky Blinders” was everywhere — from Halloween costumes to hip-hop lyrics to political memes.

Set in 1919, the pilot didn’t just introduce a family of gangsters. It introduced a new kind of antihero: a war hero turned bookmaker turned crime lord, haunted by tunnels beneath the Somme, yet determined to climb above the smoke and grime of Small Heath. Cillian Murphy, then known more for 28 Days Later and Batman Begins , transformed overnight into an icon. His cheekbones, his stare, his clipped Irish accent wrapped in Birmingham grit — it was magnetic.

The supporting cast was already formidable: Sam Neill as the ruthless, Ulster-accented Inspector Campbell, Helen McCrory as the steely Aunt Polly, and Joe Cole and Paul Anderson as John and Arthur Shelby, volatile brothers in arms. The writing by Steven Knight crackled with period authenticity and modern swagger — a trick that would define the show’s six-season run.

Critically, the premiere drew modest ratings (around 2.2 million overnight viewers), but word spread fast. It wasn’t just a gangster show; it was a family drama, a psychological western, and a meditation on trauma, ambition, and class warfare — all wrapped in three-piece suits and flat caps.

The episode, simply titled , opened not with a bang, but with the rhythmic clatter of a horse’s hooves on cobblestones, the smoky haze of post-WWI Birmingham, and the haunting strum of a Red Right Hand. Within minutes, viewers met Thomas Shelby — a man with a razor-sewn cap, a death wish, and the kind of stillness that screams louder than any outburst.

Looking back, wasn’t just a premiere date. It was the birth of a modern myth. It gave us a decade of Shelby Company Limited, unforgettable monologues, slow-motion walks to “St. James Infirmary Blues,” and a final season that aired nearly nine years later — still carrying the echo of that first, fateful ride through Watery Lane.