I have to be really bored to start watching a new, unknown TV show. Even if I've heard good things about it and have a genuine interest in it, it takes a lot for me to finally give in.

Over my winter break, I spent my time alternating between watching every "Friends" episode in order for the fourth time and watching everything Tom Hardy has ever been in. A while back, I'd heard something about a BBC period crime drama show called "Peaky Blinders." I added it to my Netflix queue and promptly forgot about it, until I got sick of "Friends" and discovered that Hardy is in season two.

I'm not making this a "watch it immediately or die" kind of article, because I recognize that there are people out there for whom "Peaky Blinders" has absolutely no appeal. That being said, as a theatre design major, to me, "Peaky Blinders" is artistically and narratively stunning for the following reasons.

1. For history buffs, the context of the story is fascinating.

I took a class on the history of modern Britain last semester, and there was a lot of talk about the industrial cities in Britain during the early 20th century, about the Irish Republican Army (IRA), about the conflict between classes in industrial cities. Set in 1919 Birmingham, "Peaky Blinders" follows Tommy Shelby, the leader of the gang the Peaky Blinders, his brothers and the people the gang comes into contact with. The Peaky Blinders are bookies, who use their considerable influence in Birmingham to rig horse races and expand their empire to other racetracks.There is discussion of arms being smuggled into Belfast by the IRA, Churchill makes an appearance or two and the shadow of World War I is apparent in the psyches of all of the Shelby brothers and their friends.

2. It has an incredible cast pulling the story off.

Cillian Murphy - you know, the guy who played the Scarecrow in "Batman Begins" - stars as Tommy Shelby, the main character of "Peaky Blinders." Cast before everyone else in the show, Murphy's reputation brought other incredible actors on board, including Hardy as Jewish mobster Alfie Solomons, Sam Neill as brutal Inspector Campbell and Helen McCrory - known to our generation as Narcissa Malfoy in "Harry Potter" - as Aunt Polly, the Shelby matriarch.

3. The costumes are on point.

Costume designer Stephanie Collie made a point of realizing that the world of "Peaky Blinders" is dark, dingy and industrial. Specific characters, as well, are identified through specific wardrobe staples. Murphy's Tommy Shelby wears herringbone tweed and a Gatsby-style cap that sets him slightly apart from his brothers and peers. Ada Shelby, his sister, wears traditional 1920's flapper dresses not seen on any of the other women in the show. The dresses worn by various characters might not be perfectly historically accurate, but they fit with the "music-video aesthetic" production design.

4. You honestly don't know who to root for at the beginning.

I mean, after two seasons, I'm still not sure, but eventually you figure it out, if only because Neill's Inspector Campbell is so diabolically awful that you can really only hate him. Every character on the show does terrible things, and the Shelby boys are by definition gangsters who do terrible things, but it takes a while for the antihero trajectory to settle. Sometimes - and that's probably the point - you have to choose to root for the lesser of two evils.

5. The titular gang, the Peaky Blinders, has the name for a reason.

The Peaky Blinders were a real gang in early 20th century Birmingham. Though they were known in real life for their distinctive clothing style, urban legend states that they were called the Peaky Blinders for the razor blades they sewed into their caps to use as weapons. This was probably untrue, but it makes for a good story, and it is one that the showrunners of "Peaky Blinders" incorporated.

6. The sets are gorgeously bleak.

7. The soundtrack is bizarrely appropriate to the overall feel.

If you're looking for historically accurate in terms of soundtrack, you're going to be disappointed. Think Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes," with angry electric guitars and obscure indie rock. It might not have worked for Baz Luhrmann in "The Great Gatsby," but weirdly enough, it works for "Peaky Blinders." "Music-video aesthetic" again, I suppose. The Arctic Monkeys seem to be a favorite. With a soundtrack like that, alongside a liberal sprinkling of slow motion ensemble scenes, it makes "Peaky Blinders" just really fun to watch.

8. The camerawork and cinematography are breathtaking.

9. The women of the show are ferocious, well-developed and stand on their own.

While the men of "Peaky Blinders" can be seen as the main characters of the show, obsessed with status and the expansion of their empire, it is the women who add depth and complexity to the story. There are minor spoilers ahead, so be aware. There's Grace, a military operative spying and informing on the Peaky Blinders. She's infuriating, if only because she's openly selfish and acts in her own self interest, something we don't get to see on screen very often. There's Aunt Polly, the real boss of the Peaky Blinders, who stood in as head while the boys were all away during the war. Her two children were stolen from her, and she will do anything to protect the family she has left.

Then there's May Carleton, a widow and successful horse trainer, who, in her first appearance on the show, attempts to outbid Tommy on a horse simply because she can. She begins a romantic relationship with Tommy, but is more in love with the idea of Tommy than anything. And finally, there's Ada Shelby, who resents her family name so much that she forsakes it and leaves her brothers. In the season one finale, she wheels her baby carriage between two warring gangs and demands a cease fire.

10. The script is fabulous even without the actors.

In perhaps my favorite moment of both seasons, three storylines, all with the same outcome, intertwine with each other around a betrayal that the audience can almost see coming. In one thread, Aunt Polly prays over a meal. In another, Italian mobsters dine at a fancy restaurant. In the third, Alfie Solomons leads a goat to slaughter before a Passover meal. The dialogue weaves together with an amazing beat and rhythm, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I've made my roommate watch the scene in question solely because I adore it. Plot-wise, the overarching stories that take place are just complicated enough to keep it interesting - what would a gangster drama be like if gangsters kept their words, after all? - but not so complicated that it becomes overwhelming.

11. Hardy, because I'm biased.

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I love Hardy. I am a very composed human being, but I've come to accept the fact that if I were to ever meet him face to face, I would either have an aneurism or burst into tears. As Alfie Solomons, Hardy is alternately hilarious and terrifying, one moment full of violent rage, the next cheerfully embracing a man he's going to betray. Every other word out of his mouth is a variation of the f-word, and it's glorious.