Moment Peaky Blinders filming starts at Birmingham’s Gas Street Basin with big star spotted

This is the moment filming of the new Peaky Blinders film began at the heart of Birmingham’s canal network. Preparations had been taking place at Gas Street Basin earlier on Monday, October 21, with a stretch of the canal and towpath shut off to the public.

And a dramatic scene showing a canal boat chugging past the Grade II-listed Tap & Spile pub and The Gin Vault, with it’s Banks’s Brewery sign visible on the side of a building, was filmed by onlooker Petros Kkolas at Regency Wharf, with further footage captured by Westside BID. Flames burned on the canal and to the side with a machine billowing smoke as the narrowboat drifted by.

The boat had the initials WGE and the Wyrely & Essington name on the side – the same narrowboat spotted earlier in the day moored at the location. Cast and crew were spotted as well as a number of inquisitive onlookers.

READ MORE: Inside new Peaky Blinders film as Cillian Murphy returns as Tommy Shelby

The scene was expected to be part of the new feature-length Peaky Blinders Netflix film, with further filming taking place in Cornwall Street in the city centre earlier in the day. The film will star Cillian Murphy, back as Thomas Shelby, alongside Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) and Stephen Graham (Band of Brothers, Gangs of New York), who has already appeared in the series.

Stephen Graham, who appeared in the final series of the Peaky Blinders TV show as Hayden Stagg, a Liverpudlian docker and union man, was spotted in period costume on a narrowboat. The scene saw fire and smoke erupt into the sky, with "panicked" extras seen frantically fleeing an old-fashioned bus.

Peaky Blinders filming in Gas Street

View gallery

Brian Hughes, chairman of Westside BID, said: “In true Brummie fashion, everything was remarkably low-key, with the locked set having the friendliest security guards and members of the public watching from wherever they could as the shoot unfolded into late evening.

“Fires burned on Regency Wharf’s towpath and above the water itself, while a boat docked outside of the Tap & Spile and bags were thrown onto the towpath as characters jumped off. The set had the unmistakable ‘Peaky’ look – the darkly-atmospheric, sometimes golden night light broken only by characters dressed in flat caps and long coats swirling around.”

To cap it all, even the moon was ‘peaking’ through clouds as boats with names including Thomas Coathupe & Sons Ltd – 1893 slowly sailed into view of the flickering flames and beer barrels outside the Tap & Spile. A giant crane in Gas Street held a suspended light box high above the basin and other lights were mounted on the balcony at the back of the Walkabout pub.

Mr Hughes added: “Diners at the Bistrot Pierre restaurant overlooking the canal were able to watch the filming, while Broad Street's first-floor Barajee Indian Restaurant was closed for the shoot. But in future, diners there will be able to look directly down to where the action took place.

“Other Westside businesses along the same stretch of water will also be able to trade on having been part of a famous film location, including the Italian deli and restaurant Ciaro, the Canalside Cafe and The Gin Vault.”