Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight joins Andy Street for Acorns fundraiser

Steven Knight was in conversation Mr Street for the show at Birmingham Council House today in aid £2 million Save Acorns Black Country Hospice Appeal.

The event saw the duo chat about Acorns and their plans for filming studios in Birmingham – as well as a question and answer session with the audience.

Mr Knight said: "We have just been hopefully raising some money for an incredibly important and worthwhile cause of saving a children's hospice. If we can make some money for such a worthwhile cause while enjoying ourselves, then great.

"I think this appeal is important to anybody who is a human being – how could you not want this hospice to thrive and continue, it makes no sense to me. In a world where it shouldn't really be down to individuals to donate, it is, so while that is the case then one should do what you can to help. It isn't as if I am running a marathon like Andy did, I am just showing up – why wouldn't you, it is just a fantastic cause.

"This event has been fantastic, it has been really good, it is always a joy to come to Birmingham. It is always a joy to meet the people I am meeting today and it is always a joy to come into this building [Birmingham Council House] which I am looking at as a potential Peaky Blinders location."

Speaking about his plans for a new film and television studio in the heart of Birmingham, he added: "We are imminent – we have had fantastic support from Birmingham City Council, the West Midlands Mayor and from local industries.

"We are on the verge of announcing a very big development in Birmingham that will hopefully change the nature of the media industry in the city and the whole of the West Midlands.

"I can't give a specific location [where the studios will be] but it is close to where it is all happening.

"Birmingham and the West Midlands do really well in many, many industries, it is not as if it needs a media industry to put it on the map because it is on the map. But my area of concern is media so it felt to me as if Birmingham and the West Midlands was under-represented in terms of television and film production, so to put that right not only provides employment, skills and new opportunities – it also, I think, alters the perception of the region not just in this country but around the world."

Mr Street, who is a patron for the Save Acorns Black Country Hospice Appeal, said: "We have just been doing a little speaker event with Steven Knight to raise some money for the Acorns Children's Hospice Appeal.

"The hospice was threatened in Walsall last summer just really the people, in the Black Country in particular, came together and said 'no we are going to raise money to keep this place open' and on the back of the promise of that fundraising, the board of Acorns decided that they were going to suspend the closure and keep it open.

"We have now got to raise £2 million – £600,000 is already in the bank which is a brilliant response from people in the region, so hopefully this event will put a little bit more money in the till for that incredible cause.

"I think the response is outstanding. It is a heart-warming story. We all thought when this announcement came through, it just can't be. We have got to do something about it.

"For me the moment was at Pelsall Carnival last summer, when I met the parents of a little girl, her name was Isabella [Lyttle], who died in the hospice and they were just so determined from their own experience that the facility couldn't be lost. Her parents were so emotional about it that there and then I thought we have to do something about it.

"So I stepped forward and said to Toby that I would be patron of the appeal to try and do things like today – and use my position to help raise a bit of money and make a tiny difference.

"What Steven has done today is used his brilliant expertise as one of the best filmmakers in the world at the moment to come to Birmingham and bring a group of people together to raise money."

The Save Acorns Black Country Hospice Appeal was launched in July last year and needs to raise £2 million to ensure the survival of the Walstead Road hospice. So far, more than £600,000 has been raised by the public, lifting the threat of immediate closure.