Peaky Blinders season 3 release date confirmed for May

Cillian Murphy will be back in the lead as ruthless gangster Tommy Shelby

A new Shelby family portrait to celebrate the return of Peaky Blinders (BBC)

Get your flat caps and Brummie accents at the ready, for the news Peaky Blinders fans have been waiting for has finally arrived.

The third series of the hit drama, about a post-World War I Birmingham gang who sew razors into the peaks of their flat caps, is confirmed to reach our tellies in May.

The official release date has now been announced

Tommy Shelby and his merciless cronies will return to BBC Two, despite speculation that the show would move to BBC One amid growing popularity in both the UK and US.

The exact air date is yet to be announced but is expected to fall early next month, following an exclusive screening in Birmingham on 4 May.

Watch the first teaser trailer here

Paddy Considine is joining the cast as a nemesis for the Shelbys, alongside returning actors Helen McCrory as Aunt Polly and Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons.

Filming wrapped in January with Finn Cole, who plays Polly’s son and Peakys’ accountant Michael Gray, promising superb things. “It’s good, as f**k,” he wrote alongside some moody-looking teaser photos, as if we weren’t already excited enough.

Upcoming plot details have been scarce but we do know that series three will pull Tommy into the “glamourous and dangerous world of international intrigue”, threatening his family and organisation while “forcing him to question everything about his own ambitions and desires”.

Power will be a key theme, with the series opening on Tommy’s wedding day. But will Grace, May or another woman altogether be the bride? Finally we can say, there’s not long to wait to find out.