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Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has confirmed that a feature film is definitely happening and is nearly written. Speaking on the Heart Breakfast show, he shared an update on the film’s progress:“Yes, I’m writing it right now,” Knight said. “I’m nearly done writing it, and we’re going to shoot it… I’m setting up some film and television studios in Digbeth in Birmingham.” He added: “We’re going to shoot it at the studios in Digbeth, and on location in Digbeth in Birmingham. Digbeth and Small Heath is where the Peaky Blinders actually roamed. So it’s like Peaky’s coming home basically.”

The original series, which was first broadcast on BBC Two before moving to BBC One following its success, was filmed in Birmingham, as well as in areas of Bradford, Dudley, Leeds and Liverpool. It was loosely based on a real street gang, of the same name, which was active in Birmingham from the 1880s to the 1910s.

When asked about the casting of the upcoming film, Knight revealed there will be some familiar faces returning “and some new faces that will hopefully be quite surprising”.

Speaking in June this year, Cillian Murphy, who plays Tommy Shelby in the series, expressed his interest in reprising the role for the planned film: “I’d be as excited as anybody to read a script,” Murphy told Deadline. “But I think it’s good for everyone to have a little break. That’s always a healthy thing and then we can regroup." He also added “Steve is an insanely busy and in-demand writer, but I know that he loves writing Peaky above all. He adores it. So I think when the time comes, if there’s more story to be told, I’ll be there.”

Cillian Murphy played the infamous Tommy Shelby – the head of the Peaky Blinders – while other Shelby family members and senior members of the gang included Paul Anderson as Arthur Shelby, Sophie Rundle as Ada Shelby and Joe Cole as John Shelby. Helen McCrory starred as the family’s no-nonsense matriarch Elizabeth “Polly” Gray, up until her death from breast cancer in April 2021 at the age of 52. Tom Hardy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Sam Claflin and Adrien Brody also featured.

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Steven Knight also shared the expected timeline for the film, telling the radio show: “I’m hoping that we’ll be shooting in… within 18 months." said the creator. “And then obviously we put it together. I mean it will depend on the distributors and things when it goes out.

Knight did previously reveal a feature film is in the works, with it now definitely confirmed, will be a “very specific story” that’s “based on a true story from the Second World War”. The sixth and final season of Peaky Blinders concluded in April this year. The Bafta-nominated show, which follows Birmingham crime gang The Peaky Blinders during the aftermath of the First World War, ran for six series from 2013 to 2022.