Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s music have featured in several episodes of the crime drama
The creator of Peaky Blinders has revealed how the ‘incredible’ Ozzy Osoburne helped bring the BBC series to life.
Thousands of mourners lined the city centre streets of Birmingham on Thursday (July 30 ) to say goodbye to the Black Sabbath frontman.
The hearse carrying his coffin drove past Ozzy’s childhood home in Lodge Road in Aston as it made its way into Birmingham city centre.
One week on from the death of the 76-year-old, fans were able to pay their respects as they took to the streets to see the cortège, which was accompanied by a live brass band performance by musicians from Bostin’ Brass.
Former X Factor judge Sharon appeared visibly emotional as she was joined by their three children – Aimee, Jack and Kelly.
With tributes continuing to pour in from around the world for Ozzy, who was been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight branded his music ‘the Birmingham soundtrack’.
Starring Cillian Murphy as Thomas Shelby, the series followed the exploits of the Peaky Blinders crime gang in the direct aftermath of the First World War.
Running from 2013 to 2022, with a movie on the way, the series is mainly set in Birmingham, with Ozzy’s music featured in several episodes.
Steven said: “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.”
Meanwhile, Steven’s latest project is Built In Birmingham: Brady And The Blues, a documentary which focuses on Birmingham City and their takeover by American footballer Tom Brady and US businessman Tom Wagner, which hits Prime Video on Friday (August 1).
Discussing the importance of Birmingham, he said: “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.”