Steven Knight: Birmingham City show ‘would’ve been a tragedy’ before US takeover

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has said his new series which follows Birmingham City, the football team he supports, “would’ve been a tragedy” if it had been made before the club’s US takeover.

Prime Video’s Built In Birmingham: Brady And The Blues, which Knight is executive producer on, will follow the football club as they are taken over by former NFL quarterback Tom Brady and US businessman Tom Wagner.

Knight told the PA news agency: “For most of my supporting Blues career, there’s been not a lot to make a film about to be honest.

“It would have been a tragedy or a comedy, or both, previous to this, and then when this thing happened, which most Blues fans still can’t quite believe, that we’re taken over by proper people with real money, and with ambition, then suddenly there was a story there.

“It’s the story that Tom Brady, who would win, and win, and win, takes over a team that loses and draws, and (has) just a completely different culture and ethic.

“It was worth everything just to be there when Tom Brady and Tom Wagner entered a pub called The Roost, which is quite a rough Blues supporters’ pub, just before a match and to see the two things come together in a really happy way.”

The series’ first episode shows Brady and Wagner sacking then-manager John Eustace with the club in the Championship play-off places, replacing him with Wayne Rooney, who takes the team into the relegation zone, leading to some tense moments between the former Manchester United striker and Brady.

Later in the episode, Rooney is sacked after the seven-time Super Bowl winner questions his work ethic, and the club’s relegation to League One, the third tier of English football, is shown.

Speaking about the show’s tense moments, Knight