TV Pick of the Week: Legends - review by Yvette Huddleston
Legends Netflix, review by Yvette Huddleston
Inspired by actual events, this compelling crime drama from screenwriter Neil Forsyth – who also penned the excellent series Gold about the infamous 1983 Brinks-Mat robbery – hooks the viewer in right from the start and keeps the tension high throughout all six episodes.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s as Thatcher’s grip on British politics was beginning to weaken, the Iron Lady was looking for an opportunity to boost her popularity by declaring war on the drug dealers that were blighting many inner-city communities. A spike in heroin deaths attracts media attention and the Home Secretary (Alex Jennings) summons Angus Blake (Douglas Hodge), director of investigations at Her Majesty’s Customs, telling him in no uncertain terms that he needs to do something about it. Blake is given a limited amount of time and an even more limited budget to come up with a way of tackling the problem.
Steve Coogan plays Don Clarke, a former undercover cop turned Customs officer who is put in charge of training ordinary civil servants working in Customs into field agents, in just three weeks, and sending them into very dangerous situations. Initially there are quite a few who sign up to the programme, mostly those who are bored or dissatisfied with their current roles, but they are soon whittled down to a small band of operatives. They are: Guy (Tom Burke) who has been working at the airport doing baggage checks, Kate (Hayley Squires) who has been chasing importers of pornography, Bailey (Aml Ameen), a VAT fraud investigator and Erin (Jasmine Blackborow), and admin assistant, whose potential as a highly-skilled a data gatherer and analyst has not be fulfilled, until now.
The series title refers to the fake identities and back stories that each has to adopt. Clarke drums it into his recruits that it is important to stick to their legend and not allow any blurred lines to develop between reality and fiction. This is particularly vital for Guy who is going deep undercover to infiltrate a Liverpool gang, headed up by icily ambitious psychopath Declan Carter (Tom Hughes), as they broker a new deal with a successful Turkish smuggling ring operating out of London.
The narrative barrels along at pace, the action set pieces are expertly handled and the script is smart with some neat twists and turns, as well as some cracking drily humorous lines for Coogan, delivered in his inimitable deadpan style.