8 Best Steven Knight Movies & TV Series Beyond 'Peaky Blinders', Ranked by IMDb

Thanks to Thomas Shelby, Steven Knight achieved worldwide fame, but the British screenwriter has written and directed more than three dozen other movies and TV series.

Here are eight of the best, ranging from crime thrillers and biopics to tense dramas.

8. 'Redemption', 2013

IMDb Score: 6.2/10

Given Steven Knight's fondness for writing stories about criminal syndicates, it's no surprise that he wrote a script about that very topic for his directorial debut.

The completely original movie centers on Joey, a former Special Forces soldier who becomes homeless after returning from Afghanistan. Joey drinks and sees ghosts from his past. Facing death, he believes he gets a second chance when he finds himself in someone else's apartment.

The owner moved to another state for several months, leaving behind clothes, food, alcohol, and a credit card.

7. 'Maria', 2024

IMDb Score: 6.4/10

Pablo Larraín's third film about remarkable women, Maria, covers a very short period: the final week of the opera diva's life.

The movie opens with the clear indication that we are witnessing the final chapter of her life, leaving no room for the illusion of a happy ending.

Angelina Jolie plays Maria Callas, and despite their slight resemblance, Jolie perfectly conveys the heroine's fragility and grandeur, as well as her status as a true drama queen. Knight's signature style suits the story of a woman whose every word and gesture is filled with tragedy perfectly.

6. 'Spencer', 2021

IMDb Score: 6.5/10

Although there are many movies depicting the life of Princess Diana, Spencer offers the most unconventional take on the British royal family.

Focusing on the days leading up to her divorce from Prince Charles, Pablo Larraín and Steven Knight take viewers on a journey into Lady Diana's troubled soul.

From her eating disorder and the warmth of motherhood to her cold conversations with her husband and the claustrophobic atmosphere of Sandringham, the people's princess comes to life as never before.

5. 'Locke', 2013

IMDb Score: 7.1/10

In the story, Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a man who is driving to the hospital where the woman he had an affair with on a business trip is giving birth.

Locke is a man of integrity who has only stumbled once, yet he is willing to lose everything to regain it. In the span of one hour of onscreen – and real-life – action, he loses his job and his family.

The movie is shot in a single take, with a single action sequence and a single actor – not counting the voices of other characters with whom Locke communicates via speakerphone.

4. 'Dirty Pretty Things', 2002

IMDb Score: 7.2/10

Stephen Knight's first major movie was directed by his namesake, Stephen Frears. According to Knight, before agreeing to direct the film, Frears asked if the screenwriter could make the ending a little more positive.

It's understandable – the plot is so dark, and it tightens so tightly around the characters, that the director wanted to give them a chance to breathe.

The plot unfolds in London, where Okwe, an illegal immigrant from Africa, works several jobs and suffers from insomnia. One night, while working the night shift at a hotel, he finds a human heart in the restroom and realizes that the hotel is involved in something terrible.

3. 'The Hundred-Foot Journey', 2014

IMDb Score: 7.3/10

Knight's filmography includes several vibrant melodramas, which is hardly surprising. From the beginning, his screenplays have featured straightforward images that play on emotions – a perfect fit for classic melodrama.

This time, however, Knight did not write the script from scratch, he adapted Richard C. Morais' novel. The director was Lasse Hallström, a Scandinavian famous for his sentimental films with picturesque settings.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is a movie about food and the need for different cultures to befriend one another rather than waste time and energy on unnecessary squabbles.

2. 'Eastern Promises', 2007

IMDb Score: 7.6/10

David Cronenberg's 2007 movie shares thematic similarities with Dirty Pretty Things. In both films, a city is mired in organized crime.

After a woman dies in her arms in a maternity hospital, leaving behind a child and a diary in Russian, a midwife named Anna approaches a terrifying organization. Anna seeks to find the patient's relatives but instead finds a criminal syndicate.

1. 'Taboo', 2017

IMDb Score: 8.3/10

The eight-episode show Taboo, with Steven Knight as showrunner, was released by Tom Hardy's production company. The story follows adventurer James Delaney, who unexpectedly returns home to England in the early 19th century after spending 12 years in Africa.

Believed to be dead, Delaney is not welcomed by his relatives, as his return disrupts their plans for the family inheritance.