Quotes from Steven Knight

Any genre as it's called, I think can be quite reductive in terms of what a film is, because I think there is an eagerness to put in any film, in anybody's work, to give it a genre title and I think as a consequence of that, the film starts to obey the rules of the genre.

I'm not a big fan of prequels to be honest.

I relish the eight-hour format of a single season because it gives you time to do that.

I'm not suggesting that ours [series] is unique in that, but they can begin to have that depth, that gravity, they can spend some time, so it's a bit more like reading a good novel, if you like.

It's really important to me that 'Peaky Blinders' went down so well in Birmingham. Apparently the audience share in the West Midlands was double that of any other region.

It's such a gift when you know who you're writing for and you know that that actor is capable of so much that you can relax a bit.

There's been a big black hole in the middle of the country as far as TV production goes.

I think an under-recognized fact is that TV has changed because the screens have, we now have these massive screen in our homes... so it's worth making your show look good.

Horses do sense things way before people.

I write about what worries me and, hopefully, things worry me a little bit earlier than they do some other people, purely because I am a writer and it is my job to go out there and be worried by things.

I think the East India Company represents what we would think of as a very modern approach to the world where everything was counted, every penny was counted.

I never set out to write a script that is 'topical.'

A funny thing about film is that it's the only medium where people say there are really rules that you have to stick to. Nobody says to the writer - in a film you've got to have three acts - there's a character arc you have to do - there's no reason that's true.

In terms of the symbolism, I think that if you do it right, writing is a bit like dreaming.

I want to be influenced by the world not TV or film.

To get a game show into production is as challenging and as intellectually demanding as it is to write a novel or screenplay.

No money has ever been spent on 'Peaky Blinders' in terms of publicity, there's no massive campaign - because it's the BBC you just get the trailers. But what's happened is people have found it for themselves and I think the loyalty is greater when people find than when they're told to watch something.

It's good sometimes to have a character that starts as one thing and ends as another, but James Bond, Hercules, these are pretty enduring stories.

I've been banging on about doing stuff in Birmingham for years and years, and everyone says 'We can't, it's the accent thing.' For some reason it's a very difficult accent to get right, harder even than Geordie.

I don't think that jealousy and love and hate and anger and all those things have changed in the past 200 years - people just express themselves differently.

There's a grown-upness about television now that wasn't there before. You do know you're doing stuff for adults who can tell the difference between right and wrong, well hopefully, and make judgements about violence. And with 'Peaky,' always if there is an act of violence, there is a consequence.

I think there is something about a good person doing bad things for what they consider to be a good reason. Then the battle is on to almost prove to the audience that it's justified. How far can you go with that? How far can that character go before people won't accept it? Trying to walk to edge of that line is a challenge.

You can make somebody bad for a long time, and people love it when they then do one good thing and it's almost like a triumph. Actors seem to enjoy it more.

It seems to me, that if there is a bad taste in your mouth, you spit it out. You don't constantly swallow it back.