Peaky Blinders creator says Ozzy Osbourne’s music is ‘the Birmingham soundtrack’

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has said the music of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath is “the Birmingham soundtrack” after the singer’s cortege travelled through the city on Wednesday.

The 65-year-old, who grew up in the Birmingham area and whose BBC crime drama is set in the city, told the PA news agency that the procession, which saw Osbourne’s family travel through Birmingham with his hearse, saw an “outpouring of love” for the singer and the city from fans who gathered on the route.

Knight told PA: “He and Tony Iommi, and Geezer (Butler), and all of those people, I don’t know whether people know that they’re from a pretty tough part of town and they had quite tough lives, and they just sort of decided to do this thing, to make this music.

“The music, it’s so Birmingham because they were working in factories, and that work was very, very noisy, I worked occasionally in factories, and there is always a rhythm.

“There’s always a dominant machine, it’s like, ‘bang, bang, bang’, and they just turn that into music, and that’s why I think it is the Birmingham soundtrack, heavy metal, and then people underestimate how popular metal is all over the world, so it’s incredible.”

The procession saw Osbourne’s widow Sharon, son Jack and daughters Aimee and Kelly stop at the Black Sabbath bench in the city to inspect tributes, with thousands of fans lining the route around Birmingham.

Knight’s latest project is Built In Birmingham: Brady And The Blues, a new Prime Video series he has worked as executive producer on which focuses on Birmingham City, the football team he supports, and their takeover by American footballer Tom Brady and US businessman Tom Wagner.

In the series’ first episode, Knight remarks that people from Birmingham “don’t like to shout about” their city.

He explains: “I think amongst Brummies, there’s this thing of, ‘don’t get too big for your boots’, and so anybody who starts shouting out about Birmingham will get that reaction, or previously would have got that reaction.

“But I do feel, really do sense the change in the city, and in the population of the city, the people are actually saying, ‘well, it’s our turn’, and it really is.”

Knight is best known for his Peaky Blinders series, which follows Tommy Shelby and his Birmingham gang of the series’ name, and has covered topics such as the rise of fascism, Irish republican politics and communist activities through the period following the First World War across its six series.

The producer was also one of the creators of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the sole creator of SAS: Rogue Heroes. He is also making a movie in conjunction with Oasis’s Live 25 reunion tour.

The Built In Birmingham: Brady And The Blues series will launch worldwide on Prime Video on Friday.