November 5, 2013 - 12:05 AMT
Weinstein Company nabs “Peaky Blinders” BBC crime saga

The Weinstein Company has acquired US TV and VOD from the Endemol British drama series Peaky Blinders. The deal covers the first three seasons with an option for others. The Steven Knight-created drama stars Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill, Deadline said.

“We have always been big fans of Steven Knight’s work and are extremely excited to bring this show stateside, where it’s sure to thrill audiences just as much as it did in the UK,” said Harvey Weinstein. The series premiered on BBC Two in September and they are working on a second season. Series is set in Birmingham, England in 1919 where the Shelby family lead the Peaky Blinders – a feared gang named for their practice of sewing razor blades into the peaks of their caps.

Led by Thomas Shelby (Murphy), they decide to move up from bookmaking to guns when weapons go missing. Rival gangs, Communist revolutionaries and IRA Fenians descend on the city in pursuit of the weapons, as Winston Churchill dispatches a ruthless police chief from Belfast to impose order on an increasingly lawless city and recover the guns.