Peaky Blinders finally makes its return to TV tonight after an almost three year break - and people across the country can’t wait to dive back into the lives of the Shelby family.
The new season will be the show’s final, with Tommy set to go head to head with fascist politician Sir Oswald Mosley once more before we find out the fate of what’s left of the Shelby family.
However, that doesn’t mean the Peaky Blinders story is over. In fact, right here in Liverpool we have the perfect way to keep the Shelby story well and truly alive.
READ MORE: Peaky Blinders filming locations you can visit across Merseyside
Many will know that Peaky Blinders has been filmed in Liverpool over the years, with some iconic spots being used to create the set of the popular Birmingham-based show.
Fans of the show can take tours of these spots - and many more you wouldn’t even know about - with Gary Friday, who acts as a guide across Merseyside for Peaky Blinders fans.
Gary, who has an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the show, even gets kitted out in his best Peaky Blinders clothing to take fans around the different filming locations in the city.
He describes becoming a Peaky Blinders tour guide as “serendipitous”, after discovering the vocation by accident when he missed the Mersey Ferry almost five years ago.
Gary, from south Liverpool, is a Chartered Legal Executive Lawyer by trade, but finds his joy of a weekend by giving tours across the city on everything from Peaky Blinders to The Beatles and Liverpool pubs.
He said: “I love doing the tours, I skip to work. I was waiting for the ferry one day in February about five years ago and had nothing to do so I was just looking about.
“As I was waiting I saw a yellow bus and walked over, I ended up speaking to the boss Lee Jones. He asked me a load of questions, even if I was a red or a blue and I must have passed the test.
“It was like serendipity. I started a course for new guides almost straight away and ended up going around doing tours on the open top bus.
“From there I did Beatles tours, pub tours, cruise ships. I now work with Liverpool Tour Company and Brit Movie Tours.
“I had just binge watched the whole series, which had just finished season four, when I was asked to work on a Peaky Blinders tour. It’s serendipity, it really is.
“Since then it's just gone from strength to strength.”
On each tour Gary and his small team take a coach full of people on a tour of Peaky Blinders filming locations in Merseyside, with quizzes, giveaways, fancy dress and more.
Gary added: “We have a ball, people get dressed up in their best Tommy outfits - one man even brought a fake gun with him once because he was so obsessed with Tommy.
“We love doing the tours but it's good for Liverpool too, to showcase it as a film location city.
“I think the tours help to dispel a lot of the myths people think about Liverpool before they visit for the first time. We make people feel comfortable and show that we’re a nice city.
“I try to learn everyone’s names by the time the tours ends, sometimes that’s 40 or 50 people but I’ve made great friends from the tours over the years, even been invited to weddings of people who’ve been on the tours and everything.
“Each tour I try to give away a hat, everyone loves that. We have a laugh and people fall in love with Liverpool.”
Gary designs the tours himself, planning out the locations and bringing all of his Peaky Blinders knowledge along for the ride.
Among the places the tours visit in Merseyside are St George’s Hall, Seacombe ferry terminal, Liverpool Town Hall and the Old Tobacco Warehouse in the city centre. Sometimes the tour even goes as far as Port Sunlight in Ellesmere Port.
Gary said: “The tour is as much about celebrating the history of Liverpool as it is about Peaky Blinders.
“We always start at St George’s Hall before we head out to places like Seacombe ferry terminal and Port Sunlight, where we stop for tea and cake, then we’ll have a quiz before heading back to St George's Hall, but most of us end up in the Peaky Blinders bar in town.
“It’s more than a tour because people get to know each other, they make friends. I’ve had people come from as far as Arizona in the US, New Zealand, Japan just to learn more about the show and Liverpool.”
Gary redesigns his Peaky Blinders tour for each season, trying to encompass everything important while keeping the old favourites in there too.
In the last few years, Liverpool’s Old Tobacco Warehouse has been transformed into The Garrison, The Shelby’s local pub.
Cains Brewery Village, Falkner Square, Huskisson Street, The Adelphi and Punch Tarmeys bar are also among recent filming spots.
New for season six, Peaky Blinders filmed inside Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral - but for what scene, we’ve yet to find out.
Gary says there is a special secret to spotting Liverpool filming locations in Peaky Blinders, aside from the obvious exterior shots.
According to Gary, you should keep you eyes fixed on the floors if you’re hoping to spot Liverpool.
He said: “Just have a look at the floor, a lot of the time they can’t change that and you’ll be able to spot something that gives it away.
“Liverpool Town Hall was used a few times and you can clearly see the Liver Bird motif on the flooring”.
According to Gary, there’s one place very few people have been able to guess was actually in Liverpool- The Isla Gladstone.
The iconic conservatory doubled as Epsom Racecourse back in series two, where fans will remember Aunt Polly killing Major Campbell in the phone booth.
Gary said: “The Isla Gladstone is the one people never believe. I didn’t even know, I had to learn for the tour”.
Gary is currently running a number of Peaky Blinders tours, which you can book online here , or drop Gary a message at fridaygary@yahoo.co.uk.
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