BBC orders more Peaky Blinders, Netflix gets US rights

UK public broadcaster the BBC has ordered a third season of period gangster drama Peaky Blinders. Netflix, which has acquired the previous two seasons of the UK drama, will show it on its streaming service in the US.

The series is produced by Mandabach Productions and Endemol-owned Tiger Aspect.

The second season has just finished on BBC Two in the UK. It stars Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy and tells the story of a gangster family from Birmingham, England.

Season two saw the family extend their criminal empire to London and season three will see them expand further, to new, unspecified shores.

Endemol sells the show internationally and The Weinstein Company holds US TV rights and shopped it to Netflix. In the US the third season will launch after the BBC Two transmission in the UK.

Netflix started airing season one of the show in September and will launch series two today (November 14).

Kim Shillinglaw, controller, BBC Two and Ben Stephenson, controller BBC Drama commissioning, ordered the series.

Along with Ripper Street, which is now co-financed by Amazon, the early pick-up for Peaky Blinders marks another example of an SVOD platform helping to fund a UK drama.