“Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight says the show would never have been made without the BBC – but admits the broadcaster is known for its lean budgets.
“I don’t think I could have made ‘Peaky Blinders’ at all outside of the BBC,” Knight said during a House of Commons inquiry into the BBC’s future. “[‘Peaky Blinders’] falls into a category of ‘curious’ and not of the time or of the fashion of the time, and often — not always, but often — it’s the BBC that tends to take a chance on things like that.”
Knight added that one of the other benefits of making a show for the BBC is that there’s “less of a sense that you’re going to be involved in meetings or calls where lots of people feel they must say something to justify being there.” He explained that whether it’s writers, producers or directors, there is a culture of “let them get on with it” if the commissioners believe the creative team “know what they’re doing.”
However he admitted that budgets have always been lean, referencing comedic duo Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, who would also complain about BBC budgets in their skits as far back as the 1960s. “It’s always been known that it’s not the place you go to for the big bucks,” Knight said of the broadcaster. “It’s where you go get if you want to express something.”
