Peaky Blinders creator says Ozzy Osbourne's music is ‘the Birmingham soundtrack'
The 65-year-old, who grew up in the Birmingham area and whose BBC crime drama is set in the city, told the PA news agency that the procession, which saw Osbourne's family travel through Birmingham with his hearse, saw an 'outpouring of love' for the singer and the city from fans who gathered on the route.
Knight told PA: 'He and Tony Iommi, and Geezer (Butler), and all of those people, I don't know whether people know that they're from a pretty tough part of town and they had quite tough lives, and they just sort of decided to do this thing, to make this music.
'The music, it's so Birmingham because they were working in factories, and that work was very, very noisy, I worked occasionally in factories, and there is always a rhythm.
'There's always a dominant machine, it's like, 'bang, bang, bang', and they just turn that into music, and that's why I think it is the Birmingham soundtrack, heavy metal, and then people underestimate how popular metal is all over the world, so it's incredible.'
The procession saw Osbourne's widow Sharon, son Jack and daughters Aimee and Kelly stop at the Black Sabbath bench in the city to inspect tributes, with thousands of fans lining the route around Birmingham.
Knight's latest project is Built In Birmingham: Brady And The Blues, a new Prime Video series he has worked as executive producer on which focuses on Birmingham City, the football team he supports, and their takeover by American footballer Tom Brady and US businessman Tom Wagner.
In the series' first episode, Knight remarks that people from Birmingham 'don't like to shout about' their city.
He explains: 'I think amongst Brummies, there's this thing of, 'don't get too big for your boots', and so anybody who starts shouting out about Birmingham will get that reaction, or previously would have got that reaction.
'But I do feel, really do sense the change in the city, and in the population of the city, the people are actually saying, 'well, it's our turn', and it really is.'
Knight is best known for his Peaky Blinders series, which follows Tommy Shelby and his Birmingham gang of the series' name, and has covered topics such as the rise of fascism, Irish republican politics and communist activities through the period following the First World War across its six series.
The producer was also one of the creators of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and the sole creator of SAS: Rogue Heroes. He is also making a movie in conjunction with Oasis's Live 25 reunion tour.
The Built In Birmingham: Brady And The Blues series will launch worldwide on Prime Video on Friday.
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The Guardian
30 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Fantasy football: here come TV's Welcome to Wrexham rip-offs
It was the crossover that no one in the entertainment industry, or the sports world, saw coming: the stars of Deadpool and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia aligning in February 2021 to purchase a beleaguered professional football club in the north of Wales. Four years on from that blockbuster deal, which looked all but doomed to end in disaster, Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac (legally changed from McElhenney, a tongue-twisting trip wire apparently) have not only proven to be eminently noble stewards of 160-year-old Wrexham FC; in hindsight, they look even cannier for deciding to make a great show of their attempt to reverse the club's fortunes. Welcome to Wrexham – their Ted Lasso-like hourlong series documenting the club's historic ascent from fifth division English football to, now, the Premier League doorstep – has been an unqualified hit with American audiences and critics, many of whom came into this premise as clueless as the new owners themselves. 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