Gangs of London (TV series)

Gangs of London is a British action–crime drama television series very loosely based on the video game of the same name,[2] produced by Pulse Films & Sister, following struggles between rival gangs and other criminal organisations in present-day London. All nine episodes were aired in the UK on the 23 April 2020 on Sky Atlantic. The series was created by Gareth Evans, best known for The Raid action crime films, along with Matt Flannery.

Gangs of London
Genre
Created by
Directed by
Starring
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original language(s)English
No. of episodes9[1] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Producer(s)Hugh Warren[1]
Running time53–93 minutes
Production company(s)
Release
Original networkSky Atlantic
Picture format1080i (HDTV)
Original release23 April 2020 – present
External links
Website
Production website

Premise

Set in the heart of London, one of the world's most dynamic and multicultural cities, Gangs of London tells the story of the city being torn apart by the turbulent power struggles of the international gangs that control it and the sudden power vacuum that's created when the head of London's most powerful crime family is assassinated.

For 20 years, Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney) was the most powerful criminal in London. Billions of pounds flowed through his organization each year. But now he's dead – and nobody knows who ordered the hit. With rivals everywhere, it's up to the impulsive Sean Wallace (Joe Cole), with the help of the Dumani family headed by Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) to take his father's place. If the situation wasn't already dangerous enough, Sean's assumption of power causes ripples in the world of international crime within the streets of London, which consists of the Albanian Mafia headed by Luan Dushaj, as well as the Kurdish freedom fighters, Pakistani Drug Cartel, Welsh travellers and various other criminal elements.

In the middle of this is newcomer Elliot Finch (Sope Dirisu), who appears to be a low-level employ of the Wallace family & opportunist, secretly is an undercover policeman building a case against the Wallace Family organization.

Cast and characters
Wallace family
  • Joe Cole as Sean Wallace, oldest son of Finn and Marian Wallace and heir to his criminal empire.
  • Michelle Fairley as Marian Wallace, the wife of Finn Wallace.
  • Valene Kane as Jacqueline Robinson, the pregnant daughter of Finn and Marian Wallace and an A&E doctor. She distances herself from the Wallaces due to their links to organised crime which she fears could affect the future safety of her unborn child.
  • Brian Vernel as Billy Wallace, a recovering heroin addict and the youngest son of Finn and Marian Wallace.
  • Colm Meaney as Finn Wallace, the head of an organised crime syndicate based in London.[1]
  • Sope Dirisu as Elliot Finch, an enforcer for the Wallaces.
  • Jude Akuwudike as Charlie Carter, a former boxer and the father of Elliot Finch.
  • Adrian Bower as Mark, an enforcer for the Wallaces.
  • Emmett J. Scanlan as Jack O'Doherty, the driver of Finn Wallace.
Dumani family
Kurds
Police
  • Jing Lusi as Victoria 'Vicky' Chung, a Detective Inspector for the Greater London Police.
  • Garry Cooper as John Harks, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Greater London Police.
Albanians
  • Orli Shuka as Luan Dushaj, the leader of the Albanian mafia.
  • Neb Basani as Tarik Gjelaj, Luan’s right hand man, Albanian henchman.
Pakistanis
  • Asif Raza Mir as Asif Afridi, a Pakistani heroin kingpin and the father of Nasir Afridi.
  • Parth Thakerar as Nasir Afridi, a politician running for Mayor of London and the son of Asif Afridi.
Welsh travellers
Other characters

Production

During filming production visited St Clere Estate in Kent to stage a Traveller site and Dartford to film a speed boat scene near Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. A driving scene was also featured on Pilgrim's Way. [3]

Release

The first season was co-produced with American pay network Cinemax which was expected to air the series alongside Sky. However, following an announcement in January 2020 by executives with parent company WarnerMedia that they would be winding down Cinemax's original programming, its producers began negotiating to move the series to another U.S. outlet, with Cinemax's blessing.[4] AMC subsequently announced a deal to take over U.S. broadcast rights and became co-producer for a newly-commissioned second season.[5]

Episodes
No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date [6]
1"Episode 1"Gareth EvansGareth Evans and Matt Flannery23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Finn Wallace, the most powerful criminal in London, is dead - and nobody knows who ordered the hit.
2"Episode 2"Corin HardyClaire Wilson23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Elliot makes a connection with the Dumani family. Meanwhile, Sean makes a discovery about his father's murder.
3"Episode 3"Corin HardyPeter Berry23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Lale is asked to make an impossible decision. Sean enacts a dangerous plan and Elliot takes on a new foe.
4"Episode 4"Corin HardyPeter Berry and Joe Murtagh23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Elliot's loyalty is tested. Sean throws a dinner to unite the two families and Alexander is asked to meet an old contact.
5"Episode 5"Gareth EvansGareth Evans and Matt Flannery23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Darren wrestles with the chaos he's unleashed. But when mercenaries set their sights on him, will Kinney be able to help?
6"Episode 6"Xavier GensLauren Sequeira23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Marian puts the pressure on Sean to uncover Finn's killer. How far is he prepared to go in pursuit of the truth?
7"Episode 7"Xavier GensPeter Berry23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
The truth about Finn's murder is revealed - and The Wallaces and The Dumanis will never be the same again.
8"Episode 8"Xavier GensCarl Joos and Peter Berry23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
With the stakes higher than ever, the Wallaces are forced to go into hiding. Luan risks his life to rid himself of Mosi.
9"Episode 9"Corin HardyClaire Wilson23 April 2020 (2020-04-23)
Old scores are settled and new alliances are forged in the series finale. Elliot makes a choice that defines his future.

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 83%.[7] GQ said it is "a strong early contender to be the best show of the summer."[8]

The series became Sky Atlantic's second-biggest original drama launch of all time, with a 7-day cumulative audience of 2.23 million viewers for the opening episode.[9]

gollark: Although I actually wrote the regex as```pythonWHITESPACE = r"[\t\n ]*"NUMBER = r"\-?(?:0|[1-9][0-9]*)(?:\.[0-9]+)?(?:[eE][+-]?[0-9]+)?"ARRAY = f"(?:\[{WHITESPACE}(?:|(?R)|(?R)(?:,{WHITESPACE}(?R){WHITESPACE})*){WHITESPACE}])"STRING = r'"(?:[^"\\\n]|\\["\\/bfnrt]|\\u[0-9a-fA-F]{4})*"'TERMINAL = f"(?:true|false|null|{NUMBER}|{STRING})"PAIR = f"(?:{WHITESPACE}{STRING}{WHITESPACE}:{WHITESPACE}(?R){WHITESPACE})"OBJECT = f"(?:{{(?:{WHITESPACE}|{PAIR}|(?:{PAIR}(?:,{PAIR})*))}})"VALUE = f"{WHITESPACE}(?:{ARRAY}|{OBJECT}|{TERMINAL}){WHITESPACE}"```which is much easier.
gollark: Regex is kind of like the APL of string pattern matching, in that it's very terse and expressive but incomprehensible.
gollark: Well, the regex engine is fine with it.
gollark: It's actually a recursive regex, so it can generate infinitely deep problems with a finite... regex.
gollark: (from an esoteric programming languages discussion group)

References
  1. Ritman, Alex (19 March 2019). "Cinemax/Sky Series 'Gangs of London' Rounds Out Cast". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  2. "'Gangs of London' Cinemax Series Sets Cast". The Hollywood Reporter.
  3. "Kent Film Office- Gangs of London (2020) article". Kent Film Office.
  4. Jurgensen, John (June 22, 2020). "How the Launch of HBO Max Sidelined Cinemax". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 22, 2020. A high-profile crime series promised for later this year, “Gangs of London,” is departing the network for another buyer, according to people familiar with the negotiations. [...] In January at a press event introducing HBO Max, WarnerMedia executives said there would be no new original programming on Cinemax. [...] Within weeks, “Gangs of London” producers went looking (with Cinemax’s blessing) for a new U.S. home for the thriller.
  5. White, Peter (June 24, 2020). "AMC Boards Sky Drama 'Gangs Of London' After HBO's Cinemax Pulls Out; Thriller Renewed For Season 2". Deadline. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  6. "Gangs of London – Listings". Sky Atlantic. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  7. "Gangs of London: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes.
  8. "Gangs of London Review". GQ.
  9. "Gangs of London is Sky's most-binged box set of 2020 already". Metro. 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
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