Television series

Peaky Blinders

Name: Peaky Blinders
Genre: Drama, Crime, History
Released: 2013
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Sophie Rundle, Paul Anderson, Harry Kirton, Helen McCrory

A working-class Birmingham gang claws its way from street racketeering to political power across the interwar years, all cheekbones, tailored coats and Nick Cave needle-drops. It's gangster myth-making more than social realism — gorgeous, moody, occasionally ridiculous — anchored by Cillian Murphy's blank-eyed Tommy Shelby. Great for anyone who wants their crime drama to look like a music video and mean it.

TVMaze rating

8.5

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Boardwalk Empire2010

Same Prohibition-era hustle, same ascent-from-the-gutter arc, but slower, richer and more historically textured, with Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson as a quieter, sadder kind of kingpin than Tommy Shelby.

But It takes its time — the first season is a slow burn compared to Peaky's sprint.

The Sopranos1999

The template for the brooding gangster-with-a-code drama. Swap razor blades for New Jersey strip malls, but the family loyalty, therapy-worthy trauma and moral rot are all here first, and better.

But No stylised action sequences or period glamour — it's slower, talkier, and psychologically merciless.

The Godfather1972

The granddaddy of the family-crime-as-business saga. Tommy Shelby's cold calculation and grief-fuelled ambition owe it a direct debt, and it's simply one of the great films ever made.

But Three hours, a deliberate pace, and a reverence that can feel like homework if you're not already sold.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Brighton Rock1948

Same DNA: British class anger, a young man remaking himself through violence, and moral rot dressed in a sharp suit — Peaky's spiritual grandfather.

Black-and-white, Graham Greene-scripted, and doing the British working-class gangster story three decades before Peaky Blinders existed — a baby-faced psychopath clawing up through seaside racketeering.

But Slower, stagier, and steeped in Catholic guilt rather than swagger — a very different rhythm from modern prestige TV.

Taboo2017

Tom Hardy at his most feral, plotting revenge and empire in grimy early-1800s London. Same swagger, same conspiratorial plotting, same sense that history is being bent to one man's will.

But Murkier, weirder and more supernatural-adjacent — it only ran two series and never fully resolved.

Gangs of New York2002

Scorsese's brawling, blood-soaked origin story for American organised crime — tribal turf wars, brutal patriarchs, and the same idea that violence and politics are never far apart.

But Daniel Day-Lewis is magnetic but the film around him is baggier and less disciplined than his performance deserves.

Legend2015no page yet

Tom Hardy plays both Kray twins, London's real-life answer to the Shelbys — sharp suits, nightclub empires, and brotherly loyalty curdling into something monstrous.

But Style occasionally outruns substance, and the true-crime bleakness sits oddly next to some genuinely funny moments.

Sons of Anarchy2008

Trade flat caps for leather cuts — a family running an illegal enterprise, torn between loyalty and self-destruction, with the same operatic sense that blood ties are both weapon and curse.

But Pulpier and more soap-operatic, with a body count that escalates past plausibility by the later seasons.

Narcos2015

A criminal empire built from nothing, told with the same appetite for real historical texture and the seduction of watching a ruthless man become untouchable.

But More docudrama than character study — you get less interiority and more geopolitical sweep.

Gomorra: La Serie2014

Italian, unglamorous, and far more brutal — the Naples mob world stripped of romance, showing what the Shelbys' violence might look like without the cinematography doing the flattering.

But Subtitled, relentlessly grim, and offers none of Peaky's stylish comfort or charismatic antihero swagger.

91 Days2016no page yet

Same Prohibition-era criminal machinery and family vendetta engine, filtered through an entirely different medium and culture — proof the gangster myth travels anywhere.

A Japanese anime set in Prohibition-era America, following a young man infiltrating a mafia family for revenge — tommy guns, tailored suits, and the same slow, cold-blooded plotting Tommy Shelby specialises in.

But Only twelve episodes, and animation as a vehicle for gangster tragedy is a genuinely odd fit for some viewers.

Succession2018

Strip out the razor blades and you're left with the same engine: a family empire, a controlling father figure, and children destroying each other to inherit power.

No guns, no gang wars — just a family dynasty built on ruthlessness, betrayal and one patriarch's iron grip, fighting over a media empire instead of a street racket.

But Zero violence, all boardrooms and dinner tables — if you want visceral action, this will feel like a different genre entirely.