By Peaky Blinders season five is rolling towards us slowly but surely, and we've got a bit more intel how real historical events will shape the lives of Tommy Shelby and pals.
At the London premiere of the new season last night creator Steven Knight described the backdrop of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism across Europe as "fortunate for us [on the show] and unfortunate for the world," which feels like a bit of an understatement.
"The things that were happening in the time we are setting the series have an unbelievable relevance to what’s going on now: the rise of populism, fascism, racism. What I hope the experience one might take from this is what was the consequence of what happened the last time. Nine years later, there was a world war."
Knight also said that the resonances between the sloganeering of Mosley's blackshirts and those of certain unnamed-but-probably-fairly-guessable contemporary politicians are very clear.
"People will think it's staggering, or they'll think we made it up. But the language and phrases are the same. It's quite chilling."
Sam Claflin, who plays Mosley in season five, says Shelby finds that when he goes toe-to-toe with Mosley he's "out of his comfort zone. He's playing a big boys' game - playing chess if you will - and Mosley is someone who’s grown up playing chess."
For Tommy, it's an abrupt awakening, he said, going from "a big fish in a small pond to going into the ocean." He's a fish trying to learn chess, in the ocean. It's Checkmating Nemo.
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