Is Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man based on a true story? The real Second World War events behind the film
Sometimes truth can be more fascinating – and devastating – than fiction
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man hits cinemas today, and many fans will be curious to learn how much of the plot is based on a true story.
The beloved franchise – created by Steven Knight – has always blended fiction with real historical events. From the rise of the Shelby family after World War I to encounters with real political figures such as Oswald Mosley, the story has consistently woven the Peaky Blinders gang into genuine moments from British history.
Now the long-awaited film, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, pushes the timeline forward into the chaos of the Second World War – and once again draws heavily from real events.
But is the Peaky Blinders movie based on a true story? In short: only partly. While the Shelby family themselves are of course fictional, several of the key events in the film are rooted in real World War II history.
Here are the true stories that inspired The Immortal Man.
**Warning: Mild spoilers ahead**
The real history behind Peaky Blinders
The original Peaky Blinders series followed Tommy Shelby and his brothers Arthur and John as they returned to Birmingham after the First World War.
Traumatised by war and determined to seize power, the Shelby family built a criminal empire that dominated the city’s underworld by 1919.
As the series progressed, the story moved into the political turmoil of the 1930s. One of the most infamous real-life figures introduced was Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists and a future ally of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime.
By the time the film begins, however, the world has changed dramatically. World War II is raging across Europe, and Britain is under heavy bombardment during The Blitz.
Tommy Shelby has vanished, but events unfolding in Birmingham soon force him back into action.
Two of those events come directly from real Second World War history.
Operation Moonlight Sonata: The real Birmingham Blitz
One of the most powerful historical inspirations behind The Immortal Man is the bombing raid known as Operation Moonlight Sonata.
On November 19, 1940, Nazi Germany launched one of its most devastating attacks on Birmingham during the Blitz. The German air force, the Luftwaffe, sent around 440 bombers to target the city’s vital industrial infrastructure.
Over nine hours, approximately 400 tonnes of explosives were dropped on Birmingham.
The devastation was immense: around 450 people were killed, 540 were seriously injured and large parts of the city were reduced to rubble.
The attackers focused particularly on factories that supported Britain’s war effort.
One of the worst-hit locations was the Birmingham Small Arms Company – better known as BSA – factory in Small Heath.
Despite air-raid sirens warning of incoming bombs, many workers initially stayed at their posts to continue production. Tragically, two bombs struck the factory before they could reach safety.
Some 53 workers lost their lives, and 89 more were injured.
The BSA factory was hugely important to Britain’s defence. Historians estimate it produced around half of the guns used by British forces during the Second World War.
In tribute, creator Steven Knight dedicates The Immortal Man to the bravery of those workers.
How Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man uses this real event
In the film, the new generation of Peaky Blinders – now led by Duke Shelby (Barry Keoghan) – arrives at the bombed-out BSA factory the morning after the attack.
With the site still in ruins, the gang searches through the wreckage for weapons left behind.
It’s a brutal reminder of how wartime destruction created opportunities for organised crime – and how the fictional Peaky Blinders are once again woven into a real historical moment.
Operation Andreas and Operation Bernhard: The Nazi plot to destroy Britain
Another real historical plot explored in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man involves one of Nazi Germany’s most ambitious financial sabotage schemes.
During World War II, the Nazi SS developed a plan to collapse the British economy by flooding it with counterfeit money.
The scheme began as Operation Andreas in 1940.
Run by the SS intelligence service, the plan involved forging enormous quantities of British banknotes that could be smuggled into the UK and destabilise the economy.
However, the first attempt failed due to technical difficulties with reproducing British currency.
The Nazis later revived the idea with a second operation: Operation Bernhard.
Under the command of SS officer Bernhard Krüger, 142 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were forced to produce near-perfect counterfeit notes.
Instead of flooding Britain with the fake money, the Nazis used it to finance intelligence operations, buy gold and supplies internationally and fund covert wartime activities.
Eventually, the plot was uncovered in 1943 after a bank clerk in Morocco identified suspicious notes. In response, the Bank of England withdrew all banknotes worth more than £5 from circulation.
Higher denominations did not return until 1964.
How The Immortal Man connects to the trust story of the counterfeiting plot
In the film, this real-life counterfeiting scheme is tied into a fictional conspiracy involving a Nazi sympathiser named John Beckett (Tim Roth).
Beckett arranges to hand £75million in forged notes to Duke Shelby and the new Peaky Blinders gang.
His proposal is simple: the gang launders the money across Britain in exchange for a share of the profits.
The plan would spread fake cash across major cities and potentially generate over £300million, an act of treason that could destabilise Britain during wartime.
But Beckett makes one critical mistake.
He hasn’t counted on Tommy Shelby returning.
Living in exile with Johnny Doggs, Tommy initially refuses to embroil himself in the plot. But as the stakes grow – and the threat to Britain becomes clear – he is forced to decide whether to step back into the war.
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