Peaky Blinders

The West Midlands is my home and I bloody love it. So why do I barely see it on the big old telly? Don’t get me wrong, I know everyone from the Spaghetti Junction to Bolivia loves Peaky Blinders – it’s a great show – but it hardly feels like it’s created here.

I enjoy some gangster shizz set in my neck of the woods as much as the next former criminal but, as soon as some of the characters open their mouths, I’m hearing accents that sound like a Welsh guy who has spent considerable time in Berlin, not Small Heath.

Series five, which began filming in Manchester last month, sees the devastating effects of the 1929 financial crash. Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, is now a Labour MP and takes on the responsibility of not just his family, but the electorate as well.

Other new cast members to debut in the Bafta award-winning drama are Brian Gleeson, Elliot Cowan, Charlene McKenna, Andrew Koji, Daryl McCormack, Kate Dickie and Emmet J Scanlan.

Yet playing a villain in his first leading role was perfect for the 21-year-old newcomer. “I love it because it’s so far removed from who you really are,” he tells the RTS.

His chilling portrayal of teenage psychopath Sam Woodford secured Rowan a nomination for an acting award at this year's RTS Programme Awards alongside “two kings” Stephen Graham and Sean Bean.

“Even to be in the same sentence [as them] is beyond me, I’m just kind of pinching myself.”

This was the “win-win” message that Aaron Matthews – project manager at Albert, television’s sustainability initiative – brought to an RTS London meeting at the end of March.

Matthews explained that Albert certification – demonstrated by a logo displayed on a programme’s end credits – is proof that a “production has implemented sustainability best practice”.

Peaky Blinders' ​Laurie Rose and Liar's Matt Gray share their expert advice on cinematography.

A series of Charles Dickens famous novels has been commissioned by BBC One and will be adapted by Steven Knight, the writer of Peaky Blinders and Taboo.

The fourth series begins with Thomas Shelby's realisation that the Peaky Blinders are in danger of annihilation after he receives a mysterious letter on Christmas Eve.

With the threat of the enemy closing in on him, Shelby deserts his country house and high society lifestyle and returns to the streets of Small Heath, Birmingham, where he must fight for survival. 

Fearless is a contemporary thriller about Emma Blunt, a solicitor with a reputation for defending lost causes. Starring Peaky Blinders actor Helen McCrory in the lead role, the show is described as "in the crash zone where law and politics collide.”

"The so-called War on Terror has put serious stress on the ordinary workings of the law. National security justifies all sorts of police and state over-reach – and the great majority of us are prepared to accept this," said Harbinson, who was a soldier before turning his hand to writing TV dramas.