‘Peaky Blinders’ Creator Steven Knight Says He Couldn’t Have Made Show Without the BBC but ‘It’s Not the Place You Go to for the Big Bucks’

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During a House of Commons inquiry into the BBC's future, 'Peaky Blinders' creator Steven Knight credited the broadcaster as essential to making his acclaimed crime drama, while acknowledging its financial constraints. "I don't think I could have made 'Peaky Blinders' at all outside of the BBC," Knight said, yet he also noted that the BBC "is not the place you go to for the big bucks." His testimony highlights the paradox facing British public broadcasting: its institutional support can incubate prestige projects that major networks might reject, but its limited budgets force creative compromises.