Steven Knight explains how Peaky Blinders film ended up quite different from his initial plans

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Steven Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, always planned to continue Tommy Shelby’s story with a movie. However, the plot for the upcoming film, The Immortal Man, wasn’t his original idea for a Peaky Blinders movie.

The screenwriter recently told TopMob at the Birmingham premiere of his new film that he always knew he wanted to set the story during World War II, but he hadn’t initially decided on the specific plot.

He explained that the initial concept was quite different from what it became. While the story was always intended to be set during World War II, the idea gradually changed and developed over time.

Originally, I envisioned this as a story set during World War II. However, the idea evolved, and I began researching lesser-known accounts from the war. The plot ultimately developed from those discoveries.

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The film tells the true story of Operation Bernhard, a daring Nazi plan during World War II to destabilize the British economy by creating and distributing fake banknotes.

In the film, Tommy Shelby’s son, Duke, played by Barry Keoghan, gets involved in a plan orchestrated by Nazi supporter Beckett (Tim Roth). However, Tommy soon returns from his time away to stop it.

I was chatting with Murphy at the premiere, and he told me he hadn’t known anything about the real operation before Knight pitched the film. He was really impressed with how Knight consistently finds these little-known historical events and manages to cleverly connect them to the Peaky Blinders story.

I was at a recent Q&A for the Peaky Blinders film at the BFI, and Steven Knight shared a truly chilling detail. He explained that during Operation Bernhard, the Nazis didn’t just try to counterfeit British currency – they actually used prisoners at Sachsenhausen concentration camp to do it. Apparently, these prisoners weren’t randomly selected; they were chosen specifically for their pre-war skills, and they ended up forging an unbelievable 350 million pounds worth of British money.

Initially, the idea was simply to air-drop the materials from airplanes. However, they then considered using criminal groups instead, figuring those individuals wouldn’t question whether it was the right or ethical thing to do, or if it even served a patriotic purpose.

During and after World War II, the Bank of England secretly stopped accepting 10 and 20 pound notes. This was because a large number of counterfeit bills were in circulation, so they redesigned most of the banknotes. The whole operation was kept confidential at the time.

That’s accurate, so I used that as a base to begin with… or, more importantly, why didn’t that occur in the first place?

Knight shared in an interview for TopMob Writer’s Room that when he began developing the show, he was certain he wanted the story to be set in the period between the two World Wars.

He explained that he originally planned to start the project right after World War I and finish before World War II. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cancel the seventh season, disrupting those plans.

Rather than concluding the story with World War II in season seven, we’ve created a film—coming out shortly and it’s excellent—that brings the narrative up to that point.

The new Peaky Blinders film, ‘The Immortal Man’, is currently showing in some UK cinemas and will be available to stream on Netflix starting March 20, 2026. Netflix subscriptions start at £5.99 per month, and it’s also accessible through Sky Glass and Virgin Media.

Don’t miss Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man! Add it to your watchlist on the TopMob: What to Watch app. Download the app now for daily TV recommendations and exclusive content.

Authors

Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona writes about film for TopMob, covering new releases in theaters and on streaming platforms. He’s been with the site since October 2019, and during that time has interviewed many famous actors and reviewed a wide variety of films.

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2026-03-08 14:35