Peaky Blinders to end - but still three series to go

Peaky Blinders is to end after its seventh series, creator Steven Knight has confirmed.

The BBC Two crime drama, set in the lawless streets of 1920s Birmingham, finished its fourth season in December.

Speaking on the red carpet ahead of the series' surprise win at the Bafta TV Awards, Knight confirmed his plan to "end it with the first air raid siren in Birmingham in 1939."

"It'll take three more series [to reach that point]," he told Digital Spy.

The show beat off competition from nominees including the BBC's Line of Duty and Netflix's The Crown to be named best drama at the ceremony - its sole nomination.

Peaky Blinders, which has gone from strength to strength since premiering in 2013, had never won a Bafta before.

Accepting the award, Knight said the win "means a lot to all of the team" - but expressed his disappointment at the fact its stars Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory and Paul Anderson were not nominated.

"The only cloud over it is I just wish that the people who have created some iconic TV characters ‑ Cillian Murphy, Helen McCrory, Paul Anderson ‑ soon maybe they will be here as well, because I think they deserve to be," he said.

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter also acknowledged the potential for further future projects while speaking to the media.

He confirmed the production team had been "approached" to take the Shelby crime family universe to the big-screen.

"A movie would be great... I wouldn't want to do it at the very end, but maybe in between two of the series," he said.

It follows previous discussions over a ballet-based version of the show.

Knight has previously told Digital Spy: "We're all thinking that five will be the last one, but it's not set in stone. I don't want to be a hostage to that.

"I mean, I always hope we will get more. For all we know, we may even go beyond that."

And he has always said that he wanted the series to run up until the beginning of World War II.

Paul Anderson, who plays Arthur Shelby in the series, said: "I don't know if we can wrap it up in one more season. I think we're in '26, '28? And so the Second World War is not for a little while yet. I don't think six episodes is enough to get us there.

"I had this conversation with Cillian about one more season, and we both agreed: listen, if that's it, then yeah, for sure. But it might take two more. I've got a feeling it might take two more."

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