'Peaky Blinders' season 5 explores themes that resonate current times, says Steven Knight

Steven Knight, the creator of hit BBC series "Peaky Blinders", says upcoming season five of the show will explore the themes of "nationalism, populism, fascism and racism", all of which are quite prevalent in the UK and the world currently.

In the fifth season, Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby enter the realm of politics and will go up against Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), who later became the leader of the British Union of Fascists.

Speaking at the London premiere of the show, Knight said there are parallels between series five and current events around the globe, reported Radio Times.

"Well it's been fortunate for us, and unfortunate for the world. The things that were happening and it's happened previously in other series as well but the things that were happening in the time that we're setting the series have an unbelievable resonance to what's going on now," the creator said.

"Because the thirties, it was the rise of nationalism, populism, fascism, racism a huge sweep across the world. And you look at the world now and what I hope people might take from this is: what was the consequence of when it happened last time? Nine years later there was a world war. And so maybe, not such a great idea," he added.

Knight also said that the resonances between the sloganeering of Mosley's blackshirts and those of certain contemporary British politicians are very "chilling".

"It's not because I planned, or knew the way things were going, it was just fortuitous in terms of, it so happens that as we've done these leaps of years between 1919 we're hitting this time (the '30s), and something was happening that is so resonant," he said.

"And I think people will find it staggering, or they'll think I've made it up that the language, the phrases, the sentences that were used at the time, are not dissimilar. They're the same language completely. Which is quite chilling," he added.

"Peaky Blinders" season five will air on BBC One in the UK later this year.