However, the similarities, of which there are many, stop there. The gang may have existed, some of their many rivals existed, but the Shelby family that the show centers around is not real . The show first introduces us to the Shelby family after the eldest three brothers, Arthur, Thomas, and John (Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, and Joe Cole) return from fighting in World War I in 1918. In the series, this seems to be the start of the Peaky Blinders making big moves to control their part of the city, but the real street gang had its heyday many years earlier. They were most prominent in the late 1800s and first part of the 1900s, but unlike in the series, they lost much of their control of the city to the Birmingham Boys during turf wars in 1910.