We sat down with Laurie to chat about all things series 2.
Can you give us an overview of where we are, going into series 2?
Its a much more expansive world.
Its a much bigger world than what Tommy Shelbys had in the past.
They go from Birmingham and theyve now started to get their claws into London.
Theres a film calledCocaine, its a brilliant 1921 film that shows young people just… bonkers.
They just went absolutely crazy for this stuff, and it was legal.
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Would you say that the heart of the show is still Birmingham?
(For those of us from Birmingham who were really happy to see Birmingham on screen!)
Which is hard, actually, for us, the film-makers, because its hard to create 1920s London.
But yeah, the heart is absolutely still Birmingham.
Is there a plan, and an end point?
I think the actors have reacted so well to the written word, and they genuinely love their characters.
There is a plan.
I dont what it is, [Steven] never tells us anything.
Hes thinking about it now, I know he is.
One of the interesting themes in series one was the depiction of PTSD.
Is there a certain social responsibility for you in depicting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
And thats still there.
And therefore the cocaine does kick in, big time.
He does get involved in it more than he should.
In those days, the poorer people did not have [cocaine], it was just the wealthy.
It was still very much a middle-class drug, even though it was fairly available.
I think it probably was.
In the first series they were minor, on the periphery.
It works out wonderfully.
Is there more violence in the second series?
Yeah, there is more violence, but its judiciously used, its done for a reason.
I think the violence is far better than the first series.
Its on a bigger scale.
They do things now with a real purpose.
Steven really wanted to create a world where the Peakies were big.
There are more of them so they have brawls, they have fights, but with a purpose.
There are also some wonderful sex scenes in it.
Quite a lot of breasts.
Weve really upped the ante in all of that.
Can you tell us about working with Tom Hardy?
We got him for six days, [in which] he did all his work.
I felt that its better to keep him in this subterranean world that he exists in.
It was a big warehouse, and he just wanders around with his dog and hes slightly eccentric.
Hes great, hes a very interesting actor, and really brought something to the whole thing.
He and Cillian have this huge dialogue that goes on for ten minutes and just fizzes.
Good bloke, I liked him.
Will you be using more modern music in the soundtrack?
The music is gonna be as good as [season 1].
I said, hang on a minute, we are creating something very British.
Theres a wealth of music out there.
I think they used it beautifully but I dont know if it resonates enough.
Ive got some great composers.
We dont wanna ape the last season,.
Music is so difficult.
People say oh, we loved the White Stripes, and you say yeah but listen to this.
Will there be more variety in the music featured?
Yeah, therell be a really interesting and slightly avant-garde approach.
Will that blend with the jazz of the era?
There are jazz bands and brass bands, very much of the period.
They get really hacked off.
So how do you get that across to a modern audience, to 20-year old kids?
Its a hundred years ago.
So if youre playing trad.
jazz, its very difficult to make that work.
Because it sounds old-fashioned?
Theyll go, what is that?!
On the first series you had a historical advisor do you have one on this series as well?
The designer, Grant, kind of knows it fairly well, so we dont have any advisors.
He takes a little bit of liberty.
You have to keep fairly close to the period as best you might.
Weve bent the rules a little bit, occasionally, a la the music.
How much of a part have the outdoor filming locations played this year?
Will we see sweeping street scenes?
I think weve tried to open it up a little bit more.
Last year they only really had the big street, shot in Liverpool.
Weve shot there, but weve got London streets.
We shot a lot in Liverpool.
Manchester has some great interiors but it doesnt really have the streets, Liverpool has the streets.
Will we still see the canals?
In Birmingham were very proud of our canals.
Yep, and we went to Dudley and shot there.
Its really exciting to see something reasonably positive about Birmingham weve got really attractive gangsters!
Well Steve was so proud of Birmingham and of coming from there.
Theres a whole group of Birmingham football supporters who dressed up as Peakys this season.
And weve got a boy cast from Birmingham, Harry.
This year weve tried to keep the accents as good as we can.
It hasnt opened in the States yet, so were waiting for that to happen.
itll be interesting to see how Americans react.
I really want this to be great.
I think it will be great.
Laurie Borg, thank you very much!
Peaky Blinders series 2 starts on BBC Two on Thursday the 2nd of October.
