Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders
Episode 1: Thursday 12th September at 9pm on BBC2.
Peaky Blinders is an epic six part drama set in 1919. A year after the Great War and the most feared and notorious gang known as the Peaky Blinders dominate criminal underworld of Birmingham. Led by the Shelby brothers, the Peaky Blinders are so-called as they sew razor blades into the peak of their caps.
Peaky Blinders stars Cillian Murphy, Sam Neil and Helen McCrory. Created by Steven Knight for BBC Two and produced by Caryn Mandabach productions and Tiger Aspect. Directed by Otto Bathurst and Tom Harper, produced by Katie Swinden.
Loz Schaivo is a member of thecallsheet.co.uk and the Make Up and Hair Designer for the series. We asked her about filming the series and the looks of the characters.
Where and when did you film Peaky Blinders?
We started filming around September last year. The whole shoot took 14 weeks and we filmed in mostly in Yorkshire with some locations in Liverpool and Dudley. The production office was based at Leeds Independent Studios.
How did you research for the show?
We had no actual photos of them and gangsters of that period to go on. It was only chatting to Steve Knight (the show’s creator), who created the show based on stories and memories passed down from his Dad, we spoke with Steve at length and then we interpreted ourselves. Otto Bathurst (director) was a big key in the way we interpreted the look and the style of the Peaky Blinders’ gang.
What's the most challenging part of this particular job?
The biggest challenge was to make sure it did not look contemporary! The set design and costume is superb and very detailed; so you want to make sure that it all the look doesn’t seem out of place.
Can you tell us about the look of the characters (particularly the hair) and how did you collaborate with the Director?
The Peaky’s look was fantastic I had a great time creating them. Otto was very passionate about how they looked but we had to win the cast over a little bit...
I started with one of the boys hair and we went with a grade 3 clipper up the sides. It’s a strong look and we wanted them pushed to the extreme ; so they had the wow factor.
To Otto and I, it looked like a great style but the boys were not so sure to start with. We both had to push them a bit but once one of them did it, the rest followed! I made sure each one of them was very individual for their character and it looks great on screen.
The caps are vital to the story and they are even the name of the show! What I wanted was when they wore the flat caps all you see was the same close cut, then once the caps were off they had an individual haircut that suited their character.
It was a great show to work on and I hope everyone enjoys watching it.
Click to see the profile of Loz Schiavo
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