Taliban cracks down on ‘Peaky Blinders’ cosplayers, youths detained and accused of ‘promoting foreign culture’

Peaky Blinders is one of the greatest TV shows of the 21st century and has a passionate fanbase all around the world. But even the show’s most ardent fans may be surprised to see just how popular it is in… Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, while regular Afghans seem to love Tommy Shelby’s capers, the Taliban take a somewhat dimmer view. As per a video circulated widely on Afghan social media, a group of men in the city of Hera shot a video of themselves wearing outfits inspired by the Peaky Blinders gang:

Reportedly, 4 people in Herat province were detained & sent to rehab by Taliban's Virtue Ministry for imitating characters from British crime series, Peaky Blinders & parading around city resembling the vintage gangsters, an act seen as violating local values.
Video: Social Media pic.twitter.com/tb5qbZ38ro

— Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud (@IhsanTipu) December 8, 2025

The men – who call themselves the Tommy Shelby Group – appeared on the Afghan YouTube channel Herat Mic, where they explained they wore the outfits because they admired the characters’ sharp fashion sense, and also want to “show the world the culture and type of clothing of the different ethnic groups of Afghanistan” (quote via YouTube auto-translate):

Taliban “morality enforcers” had other ideas, detaining the men and accusing them of “promoting foreign values”. The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice spokesperson, Saiful Islam Khyber, is quoted in The Daily Mail as saying that Peaky Blinders cosplay is inconsistent with “Islamic values and Afghan culture”.

Tough times for Afghan TV fans

But frankly, it seems these men would have fallen foul of strict Taliban rules no matter what they were wearing. The Taliban have approved a morality law that prohibits all photographs and videos of “animate beings”.

That includes fish, birds, mammals, reptiles, men, women, children, and, yes, Peaky Blinders cosplayers. As you can probably predict, this law makes for some extremely dull television, and apparently four provinces have ordered that television broadcasts are now audio-only (so I guess technically not television).

All of which means watching Peaky Blinders (or literally any other TV show in existence) is now against the law in Afghanistan. But, if industrious young Afghans can figure out a way to watch the rest of the show, we’re sure they’ll also find a way to check out the excellent-looking Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man when it debuts on Netflix in March 2026.