Birmingham’s favourite lawless gang is back. The long-awaited sixth series of Peaky Blinders finally swaggers onto BBC1 on Sunday, starring Cillian Murphy as troubled gangster boss Tommy Shelby. Set in 1933, series six roams from opium dens in Birmingham’s Chinatown to the Houses of Parliament, and from frozen Canada to uptown Boston.
In fact, the drama was largely filmed in the north-west of England – in Manchester’s historic canal district, and on Liverpool’s Georgian streets and Lancashire’s moors – while a little town on Scotland’s north coast doubled as a French-speaking island off the coast of Newfoundland.
Discover a French island on Scotland’s north coast
Tommy Shelby visits the fog-smothered, snow-encrusted island of Miquelon in episode one – a French territory off Newfoundland that mobsters including Al Capone used as a base when smuggling alcohol into the US during Prohibition. Like the show’s boss, Capone frequented Hotel Robert, which is still the largest hotel on the island.
Peaky Blinders’ Miquelon is easier to reach. “We scoured the country for somewhere that might look like the barren wilds of Newfoundland and settled on Portsoy, a stunning town east of Inverness,” head of production David Mason told i.
Huddled around a 17th-century harbour, this lovely old fishing port on Scotland’s north coast was once famous for its gleaming red and green “marble”, which was exported to the Palace of Versailles. The Peaky Blinders crew arrived last February armed with fog and snow machines, but the Scottish weather was more than equal to the task.
“We shot in the worst snow and ice they’d had for years, but that’s what we needed”, says Mason. “And the locals gave us such a warm welcome in the middle of a blizzard”. You can learn about Portsoy’s history at the volunteer-run museum in the old Salmon Bothy, which the crew used as a base (free, open from April).
Explore Manchester’s industrial heart
Although the Peaky Blinders are a Birmingham gang, the show is shot in Manchester, where you can still stumble across chunks of its industrial past in the middle of the city.
The forbidding façade of The Garrison – Tommy’s pub – was constructed on a cobbled street in Castlefield, under the mammoth railway viaducts of Manchester Central station, which is now an exhibition centre. Castlefield was the industrial heart of Manchester and is now home to a superb arts centre and characterful canal-side bars that are especially popular on sunny days.
“There are some very nice restaurants and redevelopments around there, but in the middle of Castlefield is a 19th-century industrial landscape”, says Mason.
“We spent some grim night shifts there in drizzle and fog – but it looked so good. We also built Birmingham’s Chinatown on a patch of wasteland in Castlefield, which was a remarkable set – it felt like a real street.”
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…or wander around Westminster in Liverpool
Most visitors flock to Liverpool’s Georgian quarter to admire the city’s huge neo-Gothic Anglican cathedral and equally mighty Catholic cathedral, which looks like a tepee from outer space. In Peaky Blinders, it doubles as London. “There are fantastic Georgian cobbled streets with three-storey townhouses, so it’s very easy to transform them into London in a couple of hours,” explains Mason.
Some of the scenes in the House of Commons were filmed in Liverpool’s grandest building: St George’s Hall, an opulent Victorian concert hall opposite Lime Street Station. Originally, it also housed law courts and prison cells, so it’s fitting that its cellar doubles as a prison in episode one – look out for its 10ft-high brick arches. Visitors can learn about the hall’s history on a virtual-reality tour (£6 for adults).
Visit Tommy Shelby’s country pad or Gina Gray’s Art Deco mansion
Tommy Shelby’s spooky-looking pile is Arley Hall, a 19th-century stately home with gorgeous grounds in Cheshire. The family of the real owner, Viscount Ashbrook, has lived on this spot for 550 years. Although the hall is only open to the public several times a year, you can explore the immaculately manicured formal gardens (£11 for adults).
You can also visit the fabulous Boston home of Michael Gray’s steely wife Gina – played by The Queen’s Gambit’s Anya Taylor-Joy – which is actually in Lancaster. On top of a hill in the city’s Williamson Park is a huge monument topped by a green copper dome, which was built by a Lancaster industrialist for his late wife in 1909.
“Ashton Memorial is an extraordinary pile – a mad ice cream-esque Edwardian folly,” says Mason. Peaky Blinders fans who step inside will recognise the circular interior’s distinctive black, white and red marble floor; the Art Deco drapes and furnishings were added by the show’s designer. It’s well worth visiting for the superb views of Morecambe Bay and the Lake District from the first floor, while Williamson Park’s other attraction is a tropical butterfly house.
Go in search of peaky vistas in Lancashire
Even the fog and rain that follows Tommy Shelby around can’t spoil the spectacular scenery when he ventures out of town. Look out for a scene shot amid the towering trees in Beacon Fell Country Park in Lancashire. North of Preston, its woods and moorland are a lovely spot for a walk – you can see as far as the Isle of Man on clear days.
Elsewhere in Lancashire, a mountain bike trail in an abandoned quarry near Bacup – Lee Quarry – is the setting for a menacing encounter in episode three. Towards the end of the series, on a rare sunny day in the Shelby universe, the Peak District also has a cameo – keep an eye out for lush Chrome Hill, south of Buxton.
Step back in time in Dudley
If you really want to step back in time, you can’t beat the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, which is the closest the cast and crew got to Birmingham (£19.95 for adults). This excellent open-air museum doubles as Charlie’s Yard, where the Shelbys prepare their dodgy shipments.
“The museum has reconstructed streets of terraced houses and shops around an old industrial canal basin,” explains Mason. “It’s been a home to the show since series one”, says Mason.
The museum holds Peaky Blinders nights where you can place bets, try your luck at blackjack and roulette and get a sharp cut from the barber. Don’t forget your flat cap.
Peaky Blinders is on Sundays on BBC1 at 9pm