SerpApi.Org
Guy Ritchie’s pulsating gangster thriller series MobLand will be back on Paramount+ in the coming months, bringing with it more hard-hitting violence and hair-raising suspense. Yet, there’s an even more brutal British gangster show on television to enjoy while we wait for the Harrigan family’s return.
For any MobLand fans who haven’t found it already, Gangs of London will be an equally gripping watch which takes warfare on the streets of Britain’s capital to the next level. Fronted by Joe Cole from Peaky Blinders, Game of Thrones actor Michelle Fairley, and Brian Vernel of Star Wars fame, this series unashamedly makes armed combat its calling card.
While MobLand season 2 is about to raise the show’s threshold for violence from season 1, it still doesn’t throw nearly as many punches or fire a fraction of the bullets we see in Gangs of London. This all-action Gareth Evans creation makes no apologies for the intensity with which it delivers graphic internecine gang warfare.
With Gangs of London season 4 on the way soon, now is the perfect time to get into the series, which develops at a breakneck pace even Guy Ritchie would do well to match. Its 25 episodes averaging an hour’s runtime each are bingeably addictive, and go far beyond the scope of the forgotten video games on which they’re based.
Gangs Of London Is Like MobLand But Even More Brutal
Although MobLand season 1 ends with a particularly violent flourish, it’s nothing on the jawdropping brutality at the forefront of every twist and turn in Gangs of London’s contemporary tale of organized crime. Airing on Sky Atlantic in the UK and streaming on AMC+ in the US, this show depicts the explosive rivalry between several fictional street gangs.
It begins with the death of the underworld boss who maintained an uneasy truce between these gangs for two decades, triggering a sudden and violent struggle for the spoils. As well as Sean Wallace’s gang of Irish descent, the crime syndicates in the series reflect the ethnic diversity of modern London.
There are Albanian, Kurdish, Welsh Traveller, Pakistani, Nigerian, and Danish cartels, all jostling for territory and control of the city’s illegal drugs trade, among other criminal operations. Meanwhile, Joe Cole’s Sean is tasked with trying to live up to his dead father’s legacy, as he enters into a ruthless fight to the death with crime lords of various stripes.
During countless scenes of confrontation, Gangs of London places an emphasis on showcasing the vicious nature of gang warfare. These sequences are usually drenched in blood and shot at close quarters, immersing us in the dark reality of underworld combat. Some episodes even feature scenes of torture.
By contrast, as much as MobLand is unflinching in its portrayal of violence, it’s lighter in tone as a series. Acts of aggression tend to come with a wisecracking punchline, and everyone the audience cares about comes out of a fight scene relatively unscathed.
Video Game Franchise The Getaway Inspired Gangs Of London
In addition to its indulgence in macabre scenes of violence, Gangs of London has the distinction of being one of the few shows on TV inspired by a video game. The premise of the series is based on a 2006 release of the same name from the gaming franchise The Getaway.
Of course, the show ultimately uses this source material as little more than a jumping off point. By its third season, Gangs of London has very little to do with the game that spawned it. What’s more, Sean Wallace, the initial protagonist of the series, doesn’t feature in The Getaway or its sequel video games at all.
As a TV show, Gangs of London is viscerally cinematic in its stylized depiction of graphic violence designed to shock as well as thrill. No game in the franchise comes close to the powerful impact this series has on its viewers.
