The BBC is developing a university drama from Birmingham-based Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is growing Peaky Blinders drama from creator Steven Knight, based at a university in Birmingham, with the aim of eventually turning it into a returning series.

The as-yet-untitled project, which follows the lives of a group of young people at one of the country’s second-largest city’s five universities, is being produced from Knight’s new multi-million pound Digbeth Place. Studios in the West Midlands, which opened a few months ago. Kudos and BBC Studios, backed by Banijay, are co-producing.

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The college drama is in an early stage of development, but we understand that if given the green light, the series is positioned as a potential returner that could air in primetime. UK TV Trade Broadcast previously reported that he was developing the university series, but there was no broadcaster attached at the time.

Deadline brings you the news in the days after the BBC’s cancellation Doctors – the Birmingham-produced drama that launched the careers of a whole host of prominent British writers – after 23 years, which the broadcaster attributed to “superinflation in drama production”.

The BBC said the money saved Doctors will be spent on a “range of new programs in the region”. While no decision has been made and Knight’s drama hasn’t received the green light, it could be billed as a locally produced drama that hones local talent. Earlier this year, the BBC switched production to another long-running returner, silent witness, in the West Midlands, at which point it said it would deliver at least two “high-impact” scripted series a year from the region, while increasing investment in training and development.

Knight acts as the head writer of the college drama with a writers room of younger people.

The prolific one Peaky Blinders The creator is currently focusing much of his energy on building production in Birmingham and telling stories from his hometown. This city, Knight’s semi-autobiographical drama, which was also filmed at Digbeth Loc, will soon be broadcast on the BBC.

Meanwhile, Knight is writing a future Star Wars film starring Daisy Ridley, who wrote Paramount Pictures’ Alfred Hitchock remake vertigo and working on a TV version of William Shakespeare’s First Folio with The happy valley star Sarah Lancashire.

The BBC declined to comment on the development.

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