The release of Season 3 in 2016 brought along one of the biggest word-of-mouth campaigns seen in the Peak TV era. Peaky Blinders lends itself well to word of mouth-any show that can be described as a 1920s gangster drama set to the music of Nick Cave and the White Stripes is sure to pique someone’s interest. Those who saw the first two seasons aggressively recommended the show to friends. So even with a stronger algorithm and strategy for pushing originals, Season 3 of Peaky Blinders was not a priority for Netflix.Īnd yet, something unexpected happened: people started watching. Despite being labeled as a Netflix original, Peaky Blinders is not produced by Netflix, unlike most of its well known series such as Stranger Things and The Crown. But when Season 3 premiered on Netflix in 2016, it was a different streaming landscape, one where the amount of true originals had dramatically increased. Peaky Blinders is a series that’s hard to forget its stylish production and outside-the-box creative choices make it stand out amongst contemporaries. It wasn’t until after the release of Season 3 that the conversation around the show changed. Any search for conversations about the show after the 2014 Netflix release produced few results beyond the odd fan page or underdeveloped wiki. It was recommended to people who watched other British series or historical crime dramas but received little fanfare. The end result was Peaky Blinders making a quiet first impression. Netflix’s all-mighty algorithm was still in its early stages as well, so the show didn’t receive the aggressive push their originals do now. The show had some actors recognizable to an American audience, but Jurassic Park star Sam Neill as Chester Campbell and recent Christopher Nolan recruit Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby aren’t huge stars on their own.

The show was popular enough in the UK but aired on BBC Two, a step below the more popular BBC One. Netflix’s buy for Peaky Blinders was risky. The international rights for Peaky Blinders were bought from the Weinstein Company, who produced the show during much of its run. It came about in Netflix’s early stage of “original” programming which consisted of licensing overseas (mostly British) TV for North American audiences. The stylish gangster drama emerged from nowhere, premiering on Netflix in two parts in September and October of 2014.

And it may almost be lost to history that one of the earliest shows with that logo was in fact Peaky Blinders. The “originals” branding was a rare sight because it was so few and far between. Netflix is now an equal player alongside cable mainstays and premium juggernauts like HBO, but in 2014, the Netflix home page was a very different place. The streaming wars have taken over television to such a degree that it’s hard to imagine the place where it started.

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